Surprising poll results for Fianna Fáil

TWO in every three people believe Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was wrong to accept payments from businessmen in Manchester in the 1990s, a new poll has found.

Sixty-six% of respondents in the TNS MRBI poll said it was wrong for Mr Ahern to accept £8,000 from businessmen friends after speaking at a function in the British city while he was Minister for Finance in 1994.

A similar number of respondents — 64% — said the Taoiseach was wrong to accept €50,000 from friends in 1993.

Yet, as reported in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, this has failed to dent Mr Ahern’s popularity.

Public satisfaction with the manner in which Mr Ahern is doing his job has risen by one point to 53% since May.

Support for Fianna Fáil, meanwhile, has soared eight points to 39% since the same month.

If the poll is accurate, Fianna Fáil and the PDs are back in the driving seat for the next election.

With an expected “giveaway” budget to come, the coalition government is in a strong position, with combined support of 43%, the PDs having seen their vote rise by one point to 4%.

By contrast, the alternative government of Fine Gael and Labour has combined support of 37%, the former having dropped two points to 27%, the latter having slipped four points to 11%.

On the surface, that appears bad news for the two parties, especially given their hope — which has apparently proved unfounded — that the Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil would be damaged by the payments controversy.

But Fine Gael and Labour have long since accepted they will need a third party to form a majority, and the Green Party is favourite to fill that role. The Greens increased by one point to 6% in the new poll, meaning that the three parties combined have support of 43% — putting them neck and neck with the coalition.

But there was some puzzlement over the poll results among politicians and party members yesterday.

How to explain, for instance, the fact that two in every three people polled thought Mr Ahern was wrong to accept the payments and yet support for both the Taoiseach and his party increased?

Both Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte believed there was a sympathy vote evident — that while the public thought Mr Ahern was wrong to accept the money in the 1990s, they sympathised with the difficult personal circumstances he found himself in.

Mr Ahern, for his part, simply acknowledged the electorate’s backing: “Obviously I appreciate the support of the Irish people at a difficult time.”