FF slips to third place behind Labour

BRIAN COWEN was staring into the political abyss last night as Fianna Fáil slumped to third place in the polls just a week out from elections that could break his premiership.

The Taoiseach’s party hit a new low of 20%, as Labour surged above it to 23% and Fine Gael held a commanding 16% lead despite registering a slight dip in support. The snapshot survey of the national mood pointed to Fianna Fáil facing a triple calamity in next Friday’s Euro, local and Dáil by-election showdowns.

Fianna Fáil looks to be heading for a wipeout in Dublin where it is likely to lose its MEP as well as the two Dáil contests and up to half its seats on the city council. Voters across the country appeared to have ignored the Taoiseach’s pleas not to use the elections as a referendum on his handling of the economic crash, and if Fianna Fáil were to do as badly next Friday as the poll suggests, it would intensify opposition demands for a snap general election in early July on the grounds the Government no longer had a mandate to govern.

Such an historic collapse for Fianna Fáil would also raise serious questions within the party about Mr Cowen’s ability to continue leading it.

However, the Taoiseach insisted he was “fighting back”.

“I’m up for the fight and I’m going to continue right on up to the end as I have done since my public career started.

“We are going to keep fighting for every seat in the country,” he said after rallying grass roots supporters in Galway.

Though Fine Gael slipped two points in the Irish Times/TNS mrbi survey to 36%, it still commands a huge lead and saw its slight decrease benefit Labour which rose 3% while FF dropped another point and saw its junior coalition partners the Greens flatline on 3%, while Sinn Féin dropped a point to 8% and the independents gained one to 10%.

The poll was conducted as the Government struggled to counter opposition criticism it had reacted timidly to the horrific findings of the Ryan report into institutionalised rape and torture of children while in the care of the church and state.

Just 12% of people expressed satisfaction with the Government – though this was a slight two point increase on the last survey – with 84% dissatisfied.

Mr Cowen’s satisfaction rating climbed slightly to 21%, but it was still well behind the other party leaders with Labour’s Eamon Gilmore down 2% to 49%, Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny slipping by the same amount to 31%, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams down a point to 33% and the Greens John Gormley up two points to 27%.