Opposition parties plan strategies for year ahead

THE Government’s calamitous performance in the latest opinion will be latched onto today as opposition parties gather for think-ins ahead of the new political season.

But while both Fine Gael and Labour are holding their parliamentary party conferences ahead of the new political season, the parties will be forced to consider why they are failing to make significant gains from the Government’s lack of popularity. Both seminars are predominantly aimed at planning strategies for the year ahead. The focus will also clearly be on next year’s elections as in Killarney, Fine Gael will unveil its strategy for the local and European votes, and in Wexford, Labour will finalise plans for a national recruitment campaign.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny will home in on the troubled condition of the economy this evening when he addresses his party’s TDs and senators. While Mr Kenny’s support within the party remains solid, he continues to flag in the opinion polls as his personal satisfaction ratings have dropped to just 26%.

Although the Government satisfaction rating is at its lowest in a decade, FG dropped another 2% in the Millward Brown IMS opinion poll, published in the Irish Independent at the weekend, and stands at 22%.

The last time a government had a lower rating was in 1993 when only 22% expressed satisfaction with the Fianna Fáil and Labour Party coalition led by Albert Reynolds and Dick Spring. The figures were slightly more encouraging for Labour, and party whip Emmet Stagg yesterday said he was happy with the results, showing his party with 15% support.

“I was quite pleased as there is a nice steady rise is our support.

“Every poll that has been published in the past year has shown an increase for us. That is more important than a one-off surge,” he said.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte’s personal satisfaction rating dropped by 9%, leaving him at 43%.

But Mr Stagg said this was not particularly worrying. “It was inevitable that Pat Rabbitte would go down after the honeymoon period, but he is still doing very well,” he said.

Labour’s meeting will assess the impact of recent political developments, including the resignation of Justice Laffoy, and make final plans for the new Dáil session due to begin on September 30.

“These meetings are important as people will get together to socialise and to deal with politics,” Mr Stagg said.