Female support for Government drops amid smear scandal

THE Government’s popularity with women has dipped sharply since the cervical cancer scandal.

Leo Varadkar’s administration has lost more than a quarter of its approval rating with females since the controversy began three weeks ago.

The Government has been criticised for its slow response to the crisis and apparent defence of now-departed HSE chief Tony O’Brien.

Where once 41% of women voters expressed confidence in the Fine Gael-led minority Government, a full 12 points have now disappeared, leaving it with only a 29% rating.

Meanwhile, the number of women voters dissatisfied with the Government is now twice as large as those satisfied – 58% to 29%.

The ranks of women disappointed in the Government has swollen by seven points since the last comparable survey.

The latest figures are contained in Ipsos/MRBI findings for The Irish Times. The drop in female backing will come as Bad news: Leo Varadkar a particular blow for the Taoiseach as previous Ireland Thinks surveys for the Irish Daily Mail revealed urban women were by far his strongest supporters.

Men had been slower to like Mr Varadkar, but are also slower to leave his side, indicating that the cervical cancer fiasco has seriously eroded his defining extra appeal to women in particular – making it all the more likely that the Taoiseach will not seek a cutand-run general election.

The satisfaction rating for the Government as a whole has tumbled from 44% last month to 37% now. Among the entire population, dissatisfaction with the minority Fine Gael/Independent Alliance administration is up by six points, to 53%. Mr Varadkar will now be anxiously awaiting a new opinion poll in a Sunday newspaper tomorrow, which will reveal the state of the country’s political parties.

A major jump is expected for Sinn Féin, at the expense of their rivals, as a result of Mary Lou McDonald’s performance on the cervical cancer issue.

Ms McDonald demanded the head of Tony O’Brien, belatedly drawing support from Fianna Fáil, while Fine Gael suggested he could stay to oversee the response to the screening disaster.

An update by the HSE last night revealed it has now made contact with all but two of the 209 women who were not initially told that previous smear tests had wrongly given them the all-clear. This is up from Wednesday, when four women were still to be told.

Just under 20,000 women have so far contacted the HSE helpline that was set up as a result of the scandal. However, the HSE acknowledged that less than half of those have so far received a call back.

‘The service provided on our information line and waiting times continue to improve, but our clinical call team remain extremely busy. Priority for call backs from the clinical team is being given to women with specific clinical queries or a history of cervical cancer,’ the HSE said.

‘To date, 8,702 calls have been returned to women, and every effort will continue to be made to ensure that contact is made as quickly as possible with all those who have requested a call back.’

The HSE said a team has been appointed to co-ordinate the package of supports announced by Government last week. The supports include medical cards, counselling and psychology supports, reimbursement of medicines and treatments, and childcare and travel costs.

Information is available on cervicalcheck.ie.

‘Call team remain extremely busy’

THE latest opinion polls have confirmed the trend first shown up by the Irish Daily Mail/Ireland Thinks survey earlier this month: that satisfaction with the Fine Gael Government is falling.

Some of the decline is being attributed to the CervicalCheck scandal, which is reflecting badly on all parties involved: in reality, though, the issue is somewhat deeper than that.

As economies improve, citizens start to take that improvement as a given. This is perhaps slightly unfair to those who have overseen the return to economic growth, but it is the reality of politics.

As peoples’ circumstances get better, they turn instead to considering the other areas of life on which they believe the Government should be taking a lead. And on many of these, Fine Gael is being found wanting.

In particular, the Government is in danger of looking as though it does not share the everyday concerns of ordinary citizens. While the initial response of Health Minister Simon Harris to the CervicalCheck revelations was impressive, it has not been followed through with the vigour that the public want to see.

In simple terms, people feel disgusted that so many senior people in the health system knew what was happening – and did nothing. The public want those people rooted out.

It certainly should not have taken Mary Lou McDonald to realise that the position of HSE chief Tony O’Brien was untenable from the very start of this scandal, and that he should have been persuaded to step aside long before he was eventually forced to go.

Now the public want more heads to roll – and rightly so. They want the system that presided over this appalling outrage torn down and rebuilt with a new ethos at its heart: and failure to do so will be seen as an abandonment of the victims.

But the public want action on other areas too. They want urgency in addressing the housing crisis. They want proper sentences for serial criminals, particularly burglars and violent or sexual offenders. And they want decisive action to protect our children online.

Indeed, for most parents there is no greater issue than internet safety and the harm smartphones are doing to children: the evidence is clear, and yet they see the Government that is supposed to be championing their interests deciding instead to wash its hands of the issue.

There are not many things that will cause most people to switch their vote: but for most parents, this is one. And it does not take a soothsayer to realise that a government which turns its back on its citizens is taking very grave risks with its own future.