KENNY CONSIDERS SNAP ELECTION AFTER BUDGET
TAOISEACH Enda Kenny is said to be considering cashing in on the goodwill of a giveaway Budget by calling the general election in its immediate aftermath.
Fine Gael and Labour, buoyed by positive poll ratings over the weekend, are considering if now is the best time to present the Coalition to the electorate again.
The Taoiseach decides when to call the President to dissolve the Dáil and schedule an election.
But a major stumbling block is that the report of the Banking Inquiry is not due for a couple of months, with the latest estimates suggesting that it will not be ready until the end of January.
If an election were to be called before this, the inquiry would not be able to complete its work – which would mean a waste of the €30million it has so far cost.
The banking crash occurred on Fianna Fáil’s watch and a report published during or just before an election campaign could be politically damaging to FF.
Fine Gael held its traditional pre-Dáil return parliamentary thinkin in Adare last week, while Labour decamp to Glen of the Downs for their own two-day strategy meeting today.
Government sources said a snap election was discussed privately at Fine Gael’s event in Adare, and it will be close to top of the agenda at Labour’s think-in.
‘We know that it was raised with the Taoiseach by some of the most senior members in the party, and he’s not supposed to have dismissed it out of hand,’ a Govern- ment source said. ‘Meanwhile, you have Labour decamping to Wicklow and we’re told that their own talks were going to centre on vote transfers with Fine Gael, but now that will surely have to be replaced by the more pressing matter of whether we are both 100 per cent ready for a full-blown election inside the next couple of months.’
Party leaders Enda Kenny and Joan Burton have both insisted for months that this Government will run its full course – meaning next March is still the most likely date for the next election.
The latest opinion poll yesterday showed that both Fine Gael and Labour are rising in popularity.
Fine Gael stand at 28 per cent in the Red C poll in the Sunday Business Post, up three points, while Labour is back in double figures on 10 per cent, up two points.