The Labour Party in Ireland is flying high in opinion polls as public discontent with the Fianna Fail-led coalition and opposition Fine Gael continues unabated three years since the last general election.
Two scathingly critical reports about Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s oversight of Ireland’s exceedingly tarnished banking sector and ill-timed in-fighting within Fine Gael about the leadership helped boost party leader Eamonn Gilmore’s personal approval rating to 46 per cent and the Labour Party to 32 per cent – ahead of the two larger parties for the first time. The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll put governing Fianna Fail party at 17 per cent and strife-torn Fine Gael at 28 per cent.
Labour, the oldest political party in Ireland, currently has 20 of the 166 TDs in Dail Eireann and has six times served in Fine Gael-led coalitions and once with Fianna Fail under Albert Reynolds. It was last in office in 1997.
