Poll shows jump in support for FF

An new opinion poll has shown a jump in support for the coalition over the Fine Gael and Labour alternative.

An new opinion poll has shown a jump in support for the coalition over the Fine Gael and Labour alternative.

The Red C poll in today's Sunday Business Post shows an increase in support for Fianna Fáil, while support for Fine Gael has fallen to a point lower than that achieved in the 2002 election.

The poll shows Fianna Fáil at 42 per cent, up three points with Fine Gael down two points to 21 per cent. There was no change for Labour or the Green Party at 12 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. Sinn Féin saw a drop of point to seven per cent as did the PDs who now stand at three per cent.

The poll also found that 79 per cent of voters believe Sinn Féin should support policing in Northern Ireland at today's crucial ardfheis, and over half of those polled said that they would be "more likely" to vote for the party if it supported policing.

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The poll was carried out among 1,000 voters last week.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "There will be a real poll later on in the year and we will see what happens in that, but in the meantime as long as I am around here to do a job, I will continue to do that job and to try and implement as much of the policies we have and do as much for the country."

The Fianna Fail leader said: "That is the job people want me to do and my colleagues to do, so until we get to the real poll I am just concentrating on the job."

The poll's support level for Fine Gael, which has had recent publicity over controversy concerning Enda Kenny's leadership, at 21% is lower than the party scored in the 2002 election.

Progressive Democrat leader, Tanaiste Michael McDowell, said Fine Gael had made a mistake in making an accord with the Labour Party for a post-election coalition. Mr McDowell said Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny made the pact with the Labour Party on the basis he would exclude the Progressive Democrats from office.

"He has stated he would go for the Greens, rather than touch us," Mr McDowell said. "We have a very clear position, we have always said both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are parties which are ideologically compatible with ours."

"You can see now in the opinion polls they have made a horrific mistake, a terrible blunder, they have handcuffed their party to a group of people who their own supporters don't want them to be in government with."

Mr McDowell admitted if Fine Gael turn their back on any sort of a coalition with the PDs then their current coalition partner Fianna Fail is their only option.

"If Fine Gael turn their back on us that is true, we are not going to form a coalition with ideological opposites, we are not going to say it doesn't matter what we stand for, we would like office so much we would pretend to the electorate we would support a Rainbow Coalition which would be a ramshackle contradictory affair," Mr McDowell told RTE.