Taoiseach Brian Cowen has insisted that Fianna Fáil is still in with a fighting chance of holding its seat in Dublin in the European Parliament elections despite Eoin Ryan suffering a 2 per cent drop in support in the latest Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll. opinion poll.
Mr Cowen said that there were still several days to go before polling on June 5th and he believed that Eoin Ryan who was on 9 per cent and his running mate, Eibhlin Byrne, who was on 5 per cent, would continue to win support right up until polls close.
"In the European Parliament elections, we're still working hard right across the constituencies and in Dublin, we have Eoin Ryan and Eibhlin Byrne who are going to keep going right up until the end so we're going to keep fighting for every vote."
Mr Cowen said that he didn't believe the 2 per cent drop in support for Mr Ryan since the last Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll support on May 16th was significant as it was within the margin of error attached to the poll.
"At the end of the day, it's on the 5th of June that these decisions are made by the people and our job during the campaigns is to put our positive agenda across and that's what we are doing and I think the organisation is in great heart," he said.
Speaking during a visit to Youghal in East Cork where he was accompanied by Munster Euro hopeful, Ned O'Keeffe, Mr Cowen dismissed a 2 per cent increase in support for Socialist Party candidate Joe Higgins in Dublin in the latest opinion poll.
Mr Higgins received 9 per cent support in the opinion poll while Mary Lou McDonald received 11pc, Patricia McKenna received 5 per cent, Deidre de Burca received 6 per cent and Proinsias De Rossa of Labour received 25 per cent.
But Mr Cowen dismissed any suggestions that the poll showed a clear move to the Left in Dublin and he rejected a suggestion that voters might see Fianna Fáil as being too close to the banks and that the party should consider a move to the Left.
"No - I think what it (the poll) shows is that there's a context out there and there's a very tight race and Fianna Fáil is in there with a shout for the third seat and we're going to work very hard in the next seven days to try and retain it."
And Mr Cowen struck a defiantly brave note about both the Dublin Central and Dublin South by-elections, despite the level of support for Fianna Fáil in Dublin in both the European (14pc) and the local election (10 per cent) opinion polls suggesting they will lose both by-elections.
"Let's wait see. We have two excellent candidates - we have Maurice Ahern in Dublin Central and we have Shay Brennan, son of the late Seamus Brennan in Dulbin South, they are canvassing very hard, working very well.
"Transfers obviously are very important and both (candidates) I believe have a broad appeal that will attract not only first preference votes but preference votes from those who may have other candidates preferred in the first instance."
Asked whether he believed that Fianna Fáil might benefit from a large surge of support as they did in the 2007 General Election, Mr Cowen stressed that its candidates in the local elections were standing on a record of considerable achievement.
"There's a lot of activity going on throughout the country and there's a lot of organisational cover throughout the country by this party and I say again, we have candidates of excellent calibre and capacity.
"We have good outgoing people who have good records of achievement based on unprecedented investment into local government during the good times over the last ten years- everywhere I go, I see improved infrastructure which people can see.
"And also we have about 40 per cent of our total candidates who are new people, people who want to get an opportunity if the people so wish, to represent them and make the same commitment to public service that their predecessors have had.
"I think it's important that people see in Fianna Fáil in the candidate slate, both in local and European elections and the two by-elections, people of calibre and capacity who,if given the chance, will represent them well."
