Opinion poll showing drop in support for Fine Gael doesn't tell the whole story, says Cork TD

FINE Gael’s dramatic slide in popularity according to an opinion poll on Sunday, showing them at an all-time low as the third largest party in the State behind Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil, must be seen as only a snapshot, according to a Fine Gael TD for Cork.

The Times’ Behaviour and Attitude poll put Sinn Féin at 37 per cent (+5), Fianna Fáil at 21 per cent (+1), and Fine Gael at 15 per cent, (-8). If repeated in an election, this would be Fine Gael’s worst result since its foundation in 1933.

Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central, Deputy Colm Burke, said any poll is a snapshot in time, but the average over the past four months paints a “totally different picture.” 

A Red C poll was “more consistent” said Mr Burke, where it showed an increase or decrease of two or three per cent each time for each of the parties.

“It is a snapshot in time. My view is that there is a lot of positive stuff happening. There are over 720,000 more people working now than there were ten years ago,” he said.

Compared to 2008 and 2009, when there was unemployment of around 15 per cent, the country has come a long way, said Mr Burke. In total, over 305,000 new PPS numbers were issued last year.

When asked if the ending of the eviction ban was the main driver of discontent with the Government, Mr Burke said any house that is vacant is going to be either sold or will have offers on them immediately.

Mr Burke said he had encountered a constituent last week who had applied for a €50,000 home renewal grant from Cork City Council. “They got approval from Revenue. 

"They submitted their application over four months ago. Four months later, they still haven’t got a response back from City Council.” 

Asked if he still had confidence in Leo Varadkar as leader of Fine Gael, Mr Burke said, “we have a job to do in relation to housing. 

"There is no question about that. We have a difficulty in relation to delivering housing because we do not have the same number of people working in that area, as we had in 2000 to 2008.” Then, Ireland had over 30,000 people in from Poland working in construction.

“We’ve gone from 230,000 people working in construction down to 170,000. A huge number of those working in construction are working in the commercial sector, like building factories and warehousing,” he added.

Mr Burke said that Fine Gael has helped turn the economy around from a situation ten years ago when the national debt became so high, “you couldn’t even pay the interest on.” 

“I am satisfied that we have brought stability. 

To retain confidence in the economy, you need to show that the Government is not going to suddenly change policies, left, right and centre.” 

Mr Burke said the main issue now is how to deliver more houses in a shorter time frame, and to deal with logjams in planning applications.

Deputy Mayor of Cork County Council, Fianna Fáil Cllr Deirdre O’Brien, said there has to be more social and affordable housing, along with waste water treatment plants. Asked if she had full confidence in Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, Ms O’Brien said she didn’t see any alternative.

Asked if she would be willing to go into coalition with Sinn Féin, Ms O’Brien said she would like to see more transparency from Sinn Féin and would be “very cautious” before going into Government with them.

If the alternative was to support a coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and others, Ms O’Brien said “it’s a hard call.”