MINISTER OF State Martin Mansergh has described The Irish Timesas a "dangerous" newspaper.
Criticising the paper’s Ipsos/MRBI opinion poll which showed the Labour Party as more popular than both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, Dr Mansergh said “certainly it was a very bad opinion poll but as a Fine Gael statement said, those opinion polls are heavily adjusted”.
He said on the RTÉ Marian Finucaneshow: "Much as I am an admirer of The Irish Timesand indeed I wrote a column for it for four years, it's also quite a dangerous paper." He said "it bounced Garret FitzGerald into a divorce referendum in 1986 by, in my opinion, a wholly misleading opinion poll".
Asked if he was was saying Mr FitzGerald “did not make an independent decision”, Dr Mansergh replied: “I’m just saying he probably used that as the justification for doing it”.
He also spoke of “the role they played in the presidential election when they organised a press conference for Jim Duffy”, in reference to the taped conversation the researcher had with presidential candidate the late Brian Lenihan about phoning Áras an Uachtaráin in 1982 to try to persuade then president Patrick Hillery not to dissolve the Dáil, after the Fine Gael-led coalition had lost a budget vote in the Dáil.
He said a “researcher should not hold a press conference on a research conversation he had”.
Marian Finucane asked: “So you think they should have concealed that information because it didn’t suit Fianna Fáil?” Dr Mansergh replied: “The whole thing was academically unethical. Practically everybody in academia would agree with that.” He said the paper “played a hands on” role.
He said: “This opinion poll is bad for Fianna Fáil. I wouldn’t attempt to dispute that but it is also distorted.”
He said “if you read Noel Whelan’s article yesterday the core vote for Fianna Fáil came in at 16 per cent and was adjusted up at 17 per cent.
“The core Labour vote came in at 21 per cent and was adjusted up to 32 per cent.”
He said the next poll was going to be conducted on a different basis and “I think there should be a large health warning attached to drawing a lot of consequences”.
He was asked: “Would you dismiss the opinion poll saying that 40 per cent didn’t want either Brian Cowen or Enda Kenny?”
Dr Mansergh replied: “No, my remarks primarily refer to party, not to other questions.”
