Polls, protests and a new political alliance

UNDER PRESSURE?An Taoiseach Enda Kenny is coming under increasing political pressure. ?Pic: Michael McLaughlin

Polls, protests and a new political alliance


A week is a long time in politics for the Taoiseach and his Government

Áine Ryan

WATER, water everywhere and not a sign of a ray of sunshine for Taoiseach Enda Kenny or the beleaguered Coalition Government. As thousands of people prepare to descend on Dublin tomorrow (Wednesday) for yet another protest about water charges – or is it now all about the Universal Social Charges (USC), austerity, bondholders, bankers corporation tax, homelessness, eviction orders – and Sinn Féin strategically tables a motion of no confidence in the Government, the Castlebar native is still smiling for the cameras.
This is despite the fact his personal popularity, and that of the Fine Gael party plummeted in last week’s Irish Times/Ipsos poll. Fine Gael is now at its lowest standing since 2003, while Mr Kenny’s satisfaction rating is at its lowest point since he took over the leadership of the party in 2002. And remember Fine Gael was at its nadir then, dropping from 54 to 31 DΡil deputies. It took the following nine years for Kenny, as a leader, to rebuild the party.
It is also despite the fact he made a major bloop on RTÉ’s Nine O’Clock News recently about the annual average wage. But really an error about what the average Joe or Jacinta Soap earns is the least of the Taoiseach’s worries as the ‘velvet revolution’ of protests - by farmers, teachers, the public at large – fails to abate.
Add in the announcement by Independent TD Shane Ross that he has written to Independent county councillors all over the country and already has a ‘coherent core’ of nine Independent TDs who will establish a policy-reform focussed alliance and hand ‘power back to the people’. Deja vu? Was EK’s democratic revolution at the ballot box not to ensure such seismic changes in the body politic?  
Significantly, Ross told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland yesterday that this alliance would not be ‘a political party’ and would not subject its members to a party whip.
For Mayo’s Independent poll-topper, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne, the imposition of a party-whip would have been a deal-breaker. He confirmed to The Mayo News yesterday that he was  considering joining the alliance.  
“Shane Ross has written to me on a number of occasions about joining the new alliance. My big problem always has been the party whip system. The fact that he has now confirmed there would be no such system makes a big difference to me.
“I believe if you are elected by your constituents, your first duty is to them and I would not sign any pledge that would force me to vote against anything that would not be in their interest,” Cllr Kilcoyne said.
He said ‘the people of Mayo have been neglected by the present Government’.
“There were over 167 repossession orders before the last Registrar’s Court in Castlebar. These are real people with real children. Having a Taoiseach in Mayo is not worth it, if that is the price the people that voted for him have to pay,” Cllr Kilcoyne said.
Meanwhile, speaking at a Fine Gael function in Dublin yesterday (Monday), Enda Kenny said there was no split in the Coalition about tax reforms and the USC, as has been suggested in the national press over recent days.
“Stability in the Government over the last three and a half years has ensured stability, investment and the creation of jobs. The macroeconomic figures are clearly heading in the right direction … but that’s of little consolation to someone who doesn’t have bread in the kitchen,” Mr Kenny said.