GOVERNMENT REACTION:TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has described the latest poll ratings for himself and his party as "disappointing".
But he said he was both "resilient" and determined to lead the Government in addressing the challenges of the economic situation.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin also expressed disappointment. But he said the results were to be expected in the current climate, adding: "One cannot be governed by opinion polls on an ongoing basis."
Speaking to reporters yesterday morning in his hometown of Clara, Co Offaly, the Taoiseach said: "Well, obviously one can anticipate that the policies that we have to pursue wouldn't be very well received in the initial phase, but I think that it's disappointing despite that.
"But we'll get on with our work and I'm determined to lead this Government in a way which will address the major challenges we face."
Asked if he was upset that both the party rating and his own personal rating were so low, Mr Cowen said: "I'm resilient. I'm in politics 24 years, I've seen ups and downs in party terms and in government terms. This is part of politics, in terms of what you experience in politics.
"The important thing is how the country reacts to the situation we now find ourselves in. My job as Taoiseach is to lead a government with the necessary policies that have to be adjusted to meet the situation that we're in.
"That's what I intend to do, and the point is this, we are in a new situation, we need new policies to confront this situation and that's what we're doing.
"Now the fact that it doesn't meet with immediate popular support is not surprising, given the fact that we've had expansion of services for the previous 10 or 12 years, where we had a totally different economic situation to confront, where we had a world economy that was booming."
The Taoiseach continued: "Now, to bring balance into the situation, let it be said there still is investment taking place in this country."
Mr Cowen said there had been job losses "and unfortunately there will be maybe more jobs that will be lost, but we can't simply indicate or suggest that this country hasn't a lot of good things to sell or a lot of good things it is doing where we still have many people employed as well. So the idea that we can be immune from what's happening worldwide is not realistic."
Mr Martin, speaking in Cork, acknowledged that the figures were "disappointing" but insisted the Government was committed to strengthening the economy during the "worst [global] economic crisis" since the second World War.
The Minister said the poll was to be expected in the current climate but the Government would do what was right for the country.
He continued: "In difficult times you have to govern - if you rely on opinion polls from month to month you won't govern effectively.
"So we have to keep our focus on doing the right thing for the country."
