An opinion poll has given “confidence” to the prospects of the current coalition government returning, Paschal Donohoe has said.
The Public Expenditure Minister said that although the Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green party are “very, very separate parties”, recent polling indicates they could form another coalition government.
It comes after an Irish Times/Ipsos B&A opinion poll showed that Fine Gael is on 23 per cent, up four percentage points, while Sinn Féin is on 23 per cent, down five points.
There was no change to Fianna Fáil’s support from the last Irish Times poll, at 20 per cent.
A continuation of the current coalition was the most favourable coalition, preferred by 33 per cent of people, while a Sinn Fein-led government with neither Fianna Fáil nor Fine Gael was preferred by 20%.
“It shows that the three parties that form the current government at the moment, they will go into the next election very, very separate parties, all the recent opinion polling over the last 12 to 18 months show the three parties coming together having the ability to form this government again,” Mr Donohoe told Newstalk.
“That’s still some time off, with the local and European elections to deal with first, we’ll all be putting our best foot forward there. But I think we can do so with further confidence.”
Asked about the abuse and harassment of politicians, Mr Donohoe said he has experienced “all of the behaviours you’re referring to”, but emphasised that the majority of people who engage with politicians are “very civil and very respectful”.
“It’s not uncommon, it’s very dangerous, it poses a great threat to how we conduct our public life and politics,” he said, but added he did not want to put off people from becoming politicians.
Asked about social media site X, formerly Twitter, not engaging with the taskforce put in place to look at the safety of politicians, Mr Donohoe said that X is “turning its nose up” at the taskforce.
“It’s absolutely not good enough,” he said.
Taoiseach Simon Harris would not comment on whether the boost was down to a “Harris hop”.
He said that opinion polls come and go.
“Let’s be honest, politicians always refer to the up than down in terms of opinion polls and what I certainly hope it gives is a little bit of a morale boost to my incredible candidates right across the country,” Mr Harris added.
“Local election candidates, European election candidates and all their members of teams who are out working so hard.
“It’s impossible to read any one thing into it.
“What I do know about government is this, and I remember Enda Kenny saying this to me many, many years ago when he was Taoiseach. Government is about making decisions. It’s about turning up every day and saying what can I do today to try and make progress.
“What I am very satisfied about is this, that this government, my party in government every single day we’re coming to work, and we’re saying, what more can we do?
“Over the last couple of days alone, we’ve seen package supports for businesses, decisions in relation to housing, extending support schemes, extending the waiver of the development levies, decisions that have to be made on migration, even though they’re not easy.
“The people elect us and pay us to make decisions.
“What I’m obsessed about is delivering. The only thing a good opinion poll makes me do is come to work an hour earlier, stay an hour later and work even harder.
“I’m a bit old-fashioned in this view. I believe if you come to work, you work hard and you do a good job, you might see the benefits of that in an election.”
