Political opinion poll - Mood for change is in the air

It was somewhat disingenuous of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to express surprise at the results of the latest public opinion poll, because they should be enough to shake the Government from any complacency it may labour under.

What emerged strongly is that people now begin to believe that there may be a real alternative to it at the next general election.

That is possibly the most important factor to emerge from the Irish Times/TNS MRBI poll which put the putative Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition an agreeable nine points ahead of the ruling Fianna Fáil-PD administration.

Fine Gael has cause to celebrate this latest showing, as it gained four points to 28% — as opposed to Fianna Fáil’s drop of six points to 38% — but it is only an indicator, although a very good one and an important one.

While he still remains in front of the other party leaders, although on a reduced satisfaction rating, the signal from this poll cannot have been not lost on the Taoiseach despite his purported surprise.

He also expressed his disappointment that it showed a fall in satisfaction with the Government and his own party, but the result would have been perverse had it been otherwise.

With about 12 months left before the next general election, the survey proved that there are serious issues outstanding about which little is perceived to be done, which is no surprise to the majority of people.

Obviously, the abysmal health service, and particularly the situation in the country’s A&E departments which is a national emergency, is top of a lengthy list. It is followed by concern at the growing level of crime, housing, Government wastefulness and the cost of living and inflation, to name but some important contentious areas.

Despite Tánaiste Mary Harney’s opinion some time ago that people’s memory hardly extends to three months, the e-voting debacle, along with the that of the PPARs, will survive any such lapse.

Millions upon millions of taxpayers’ money were heaped ad nauseam upon these wasteful projects, to the detriment of deserving and needed services.

Combined with a perceived arrogance from some ministers, it is hardly surprising that the Government’s satisfaction appraisal across the board is down so much.

Ireland is a rich economy, as is persistently pointed out, and that is not going to dramatically change because there may be a change of government. The economy is very stable, and managing a good economy is not solely the remit of the present Government.

This latest survey was representative of every constituency in the country and must be considered a significant factor in measuring people’s mood for change after so long.