Political campaigning - We should be far more questioning

As the European and local elections draw nearer, and as the anticipated summer Cabinet reshuffle approaches, political managers are taking stock of their objectives and how they might realise those ambitions.

The coalition parties, especially Labour, cannot but be concerned by the polls, all of which show them losing significant ground. These figures lie behind the growing pressure for Labour leader, Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore, to take a portfolio that might allow him and his party to make a greater, more positive impression on domestic issues and hence in voters’ consciousness. The party faces an uphill battle to hold even one of the three European seats it won in 2009. It also faces the chastening prospect of losing multiple seats in local elections. It is, it seems, going to pay a very heavy, disproportionate and unfair price for supporting what were challenging but essential measures to try to stabilise public finances.

Fianna Fáil can take some comfort from those polls, especially as they suggest that the party has more than a fighting chance of retaining three European seats. However, their position in Dublin remains so very marginal that its relevance in the capital remains an open question. Only 14% of Dublin voters — less than two-in-10 — say they would support Micheál Martin’s party, hardly a credible improvement on the chastening 12.5% it secured in the election of 2011.