Wake-up call for FF - Poll reflects anger and frustration

THE GOVERNMENT cannot have been surprised by their poor showing in this week’s opinion poll, but whether the figures are startling enough to provoke any great degree of soul-searching in Fianna Fáil remains to be seen.

Fianna Fáil have been in this territory before — after the 2002 election when a wide range of cuts were introduced to great public dismay as “readjustments”.

The party hierarchy will take comfort in the fact that “the only poll that matters” is five years away.

However, jittery backbenchers will have seen the Taoiseach’s personal rating fall 15% to 43% with concern. They will wonder if it is another manifestation of the malaise that undermined their election campaign before the forceful intervention of Brian Cowen last May.

These figures strengthen the argument that Mr Ahern may not realise his ambition of leading the party until his 60th birthday in September 2011. The Finance Minister’s 49% rating — six points ahead of the Taoiseach — will bolster that case and unless the figures improve, the Taoiseach may have to make way for the “obvious successor” earlier than he had planned to.

Among the raft of poll detail, two details will cause particular concern for Fianna Fáil: the huge decline in working class support and the fact that Fine Gael enjoys majority support among those in the 18 to 25 age bracket.

It would be a pity if Mr Ahern and his colleagues shrugged off this poll, dismissing it as just another set of figures. The figures reflect a deep anger and frustration with a Government that has come to be seen as incompetent, arrogant, hypocritical and incapable of managing the public service. It’s time the Government acknowledged that it needs to deliver leadership of an altogether higher standard, especially in health.

Unless they heed this wake-up call those jittery backbenchers will wonder if “the most popular Taoiseach of all time” is becoming a liability — and if they convince themselves that he is, it’s curtains for Bertie.