Rabbitte not widely known, poll shows

A PRIVATE market research poll carried out by the Labour Party has found that its new leader, Pat Rabbitte, is not widely known.

The Behaviour and Attitude market research also found that people had scant knowledge of the party and thought it was dormant.

While this is not encouraging for Mr Rabbitte heading into his first annual conference this weekend as leader, the private survey did have some good news.

The focus groups interviewed believed Mr Rabbitte was an intelligent and honest man.

But the survey held out little hope for Fine Gael, with the focus groups believing the party was sidelined and declining, and its leader, Enda Kenny, was a man from the country and relatively unknown.

Labour would not comment any further on the survey discussed on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme yesterday and said it was confidential.

However, over the two-day conference in Killarney, Mr Rabbitte will set out to rally the troops for next year’s local and European elections so that Labour improves on last year’s general election results, which saw it just retaining the same number of Dáil seats.

Labour was trying to persuade former leader Dick Spring to run for them in next year’s European Parliament elections in Munster, but it is understood from sources close to Mr Spring that he does not want to re-enter politics.

Meanwhile, there is set to be a major battle between Kerry South TD Breda Moynihan-Cronin and Dublin-based Henry Houghton for the chairmanship of the party this weekend.

Ms Moynihan-Cronin is tipped to take the post because she has the backing of the leadership and most of the party’s front bench.

Crucially, she also has the backing of SIPTU, which will rally a major voting block.

Mr Houghton is the original grassroots party activist and a former member of the Labour Left, who were against the party going into any coalition government.

Over the weekend, the Labour delegates will debate a wide range of economic, social and foreign affairs policies.

Their consumer affairs spokeswoman Kathleen Lynch will highlight the impact of the Government’s charges and indirect tax increases.

Also, their finance spokeswoman, Joan Burton, will demand a more equitable tax system.