THE Labour Party plans to call more knife-edge Dail votes in an attempt to undermine the Government and force a general election.
Amid a surge in support for the Labour Party, leader Eamon Gilmore last night claimed Fianna Fail was now trying to "cling on" to political office for as long as possible.
"That is bad for the country because these are people who are just serving out their time," Mr Gilmore said.
The Labour Party is now focusing on trying to bring about a defeat of the Government in the Dail, following a number of recent close calls on votes.
Last week, the Government scraped through a Dail vote with only two votes to spare.
"It is our strategy to try and bring about a defeat of the Government. Remember, there are three seats vacant in the Dail and the Government is refusing to hold the by-elections to fill them," he said yesterday.
Challenging
"We are challenging the Government to hold those elections. . . it's quite clear they don't want to hold the by-elections. That's evidence of a government that's just serving out its time and doesn't want to face the people".
A Red C opinion poll yesterday placed the Labour Party ahead of Fianna Fail for the first time. While Labour surged by seven points to 24pc, Fianna Fail fell by one point to 23pc.
Just half of those who voted for Fianna Fail in the 2007 general election now say they will support the party.
Although Fine Gael lost two points to 33pc, it still commands a significant lead over Fianna Fail. And despite the Green Party's links to Fianna Fail, its support went up one point to 6pc.
Labour's new position as the second most popular party in the country now strengthens its argument for a three-way debate on RTE television in the run-up to the next general election. Traditionally, only the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael leaders go head-to-head.
"The people are entitled to hear a three-way debate between the leaders of the three main parties in Ireland, just as the people in Britain had a debate between the three leaders there," Mr Gilmore said.
Responding to the stark poll findings for Fianna Fail, Enterprise Minister Batt O'Keeffe said the poll was taken in the aftermath of a "very good" speech by Mr Gilmore at his party's conference three weeks ago and amid the ministerial pensions controversy last week.
"One would have thought that Fianna Fail could have in fact lost more," he said.
But, he said that when the "upswing" in the economy came, people would judge Fianna Fail on the leadership shown during the recession.
European Minister Dick Roche said the plummeting poll figures came at a time when his party was taking "extraordinarily difficult" decisions.
"We have to make cuts in public expenditure which are not popular. We have to make decisions on restructuring the banks which are not popular; but these are the decisions that are going to have to be made by any administration," he told RTE's 'Week in Politics'.
And he insisted Fianna Fail backbenchers were far more resilient than they were given credit for and that Taoiseach Brian Cowen would lead his party into the next election.
Fine Gael's Charlie Flanagan said his party was still 10 points clear of the next party and had remained the largest party in the country for over 15 months.
"That has been reflected on the street and it has been reflected in elections. The second big trend is the decline in Fianna Fail. That is not surprising because we have a Government with no plan," he said.
- ine Kerr Political Correspondent
The Irish Independent
