Fine Gael and Labour coalition gets top effectiveness rating

PEOPLE now believe the alternative coalition of Fine Gael and Labour is the most effective Government on offer.

Respondents in the poll said an alliance of the two parties would prove more effective than the current Fianna Fáil-PD Government.

On a scale of one to 10, respondents gave the alternative coalition an effectiveness rating of 5.4.

That was narrowly ahead of the Fianna Fáil-PD coalition’s effectiveness rating of 5.2.

But while the lead is slim, the significance is that it now rests with the alternative coalition.

By contrast, in the last Irish Examiner/Lansdowne Market Research poll, conducted in September 2006, it was the Government which was ahead.

At the time, the Government’s effectiveness rating stood at 5.3, while that of the alternative coalition was 5.2.

While Fianna Fáil-PD and Fine Gael-Labour are not the only coalition options, they remain the electorate’s preferred choices.

Significantly, respondents believed the addition of the Green Party would have a negative effect on any coalition Government.

While Fine Gael and Labour on their own enjoyed an effectiveness rating of 5.4, that figure slipped to five when the Green Party was factored in.

But it was nevertheless a slight improvement from last September, when the three-party bloc received a 4.9 rating.

However, there was no improvement since last year in the effectiveness rating of a possible Fianna Fáil-Green coalition.

Then, as now, such a Government received a rating of just 4.2.

But the honour for the perceived least effective Government went to Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, such a coalition receiving a rating of just four, down slightly from 4.1 last September.

Respondents gave a Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition an effectiveness rating of five.

That was a marginal increase from the 4.9 rating recorded last year.