VARADKAR’S POLL BLOW
LEO Varadkar was dealt another devastating blow in the polls last night after his personal popularity among the voting public was seen to plummet.
Amid growing anger over health, crime and housing, his satisfaction rating fell to 35% – down from 51% as recently as October.
The Taoiseach’s party, Fine Gael, also took a major hit, dropping by six points to 23%, putting it behind Fianna Fáil, which was at 25%; and just two points ahead of Sinn Féin, on 21%.
Support for Fianna Fáil remained the same as October, while Sinn Féin support jumped by seven points.
The poll, conducted by the Irish Times and Ipsos MRBI, will ring alarm bells for Fine Gael, as it follows on from a Sunday Times survey at the weekend, which
also showed them losing ground. The party may take comfort from the fact that Mr Varadkar has remained the most popular party leader, but he is only one point ahead of Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald.
She is the second most popular choice, at 34% (up from 30%), followed by Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin at 33% (down from 38%) and Labour’s Brendan Howlin at 17% (down from 20%).
After the undecided are left out, 25% went for Fianna Fáil (no change); 23% for Fine Gael (down six); 21% for Sinn Féin (up seven); 5% for Labour (down one); 8% for Greens (no change) and 18% for Independents and small parties (no change).
Last weekend’s Sunday Times Behaviour and Attitudes poll put Fianna Fáil on 32% (up five), with Fine Gael dropping seven points to 20%, just one point ahead of Sinn Féin on 19%. The Greens went up one to 7%, while Labour was down two points to 4%.
The latest results come after Fine Gael tried to win back public support yesterday with a suite of targeted healthcare measures aimed at families and children.
The two main parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, attempted to sway the electorate with plans to tackle the struggling healthcare system.
Fianna Fáil is vowing to deal with overcrowding in emergency departments and waiting lists, saying it would inject an additional €2billion into the existing health budget over the next five-year Dáil term.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Simon Harris led the charge for Fine Gael, as his party announced plans for a major health package for children if it retains power, including a proposal to extend free GP care to all under-18s by 2025 and plans to remove hospital charges for children.
Mr Varadkar yesterday acknowledged his party is ‘playing catch up in this election’, but insisted that he was ‘not blaming anyone’ for Fine Gael finding themselves in this position.
Wicklow Fianna Fáil TD Stephen
Donnelly laid out the stall for his party’s healthcare plan, saying the current system is in a ‘full-blown crisis’ and that there is only one way to fix the system, ‘with a new government’, led by Fianna Fáil.
He said that ‘our waiting lists are now the longest anywhere in Europe’, and that since the current Health Minister assumed office in May 2016, ‘there’s been an increase in healthcare spending of approximately €5billion’.
‘At the same time, the number of men, women and children waiting to see a consultant has increased by 130,000 – that’s the equivalent of Croke Park, Thomond Park, and Pairc Uí Caoimh – full of sick men, women and children, who’ve seen a GP, who’ve been referred to a specialist because there’s a concern, and who are waiting to see that specialist and can’t get access,’ he said yesterday.
‘There is only one way that we are going to fix our healthcare system and that is with a new government, and only Fianna Fáil can lead a new government,’ Mr Donnelly added.
His party’s manifesto will be unveiled this week, and as part of its health measures, Fianna Fáil is proposing to increase the National Treatment Purchase Fund to €200million, and recruit 4,000 additional nursing staff over the next five years.
It is also proposing to provide an additional five million hours of homecare support, and an additional 2,600 hospital beds.
‘We need to reset how we manage the system. We need to reset how the department, the HSE and healthcare professionals work and help build trust and cooperation between these groups,’ Mr Donnelly added.
‘We must make Ireland a great place for our health professionals to work. And then what we’ve got to do is, we’ve got to roll up our sleeves and we’ve got to put aside brochures and long-term strategies
‘System in full-blown crisis’
‘Baby box’ for every newborn
and go hospital by hospital, and county by county, and work with the people on the ground to fix the problems they’re faced with.
‘If we do all of these things, we can get sick men, women and children the care they need… We have the determination, we have the ideas, and we have the track record to fix our public healthcare system.’
Fine Gael is set to launch its detailed health proposals later in the week and it is understood they will be largely framed around Sláintecare.
However, Minister Harris was yesterday joined by Councillor Vicky Casserly, Fine Gael candidate in Dublin Mid-West, and long-serving TD and Communications Minister Richard Bruton as they unveiled their health package for children.
The party is pledging that if it returns to government, it will ‘remove the cost of healthcare for children’.
It is proposing to extend free GP care to all under-18s by 2025, remove hospital charges for children in Budget 2021, and provide free dental care for all children under 16.
A ‘baby box’ – containing clothes, blankets, nappies and other essentials – will also be provided for every newborn child.
Mr Harris said these policies are geared towards making life ‘that bit easier for families’, and that he believes it is ‘right and proper that hard-working families who get up early in the morning... actually do have access to healthcare’.
He said the squeezed middle ‘are often forgotten’, but that they will not be forgotten ‘while this party is in government’.
Reacting to Fianna Fáil’s plan for the health service, Mr Harris described it as ‘unclear, unambitious and underfunded’.
Speaking at the event, Mr Bruton took a swipe at Fianna Fáil, saying: ‘This economy can’t be taken for granted, we have done a lot to fortify it, and it is in a strong position.
‘But there is a change ahead and I think there needs to be a great scrutiny of policies of Fianna Fáil who would seek to be in Government.
‘To date, we haven’t seen much of those policies, but we will certainly have seen their record,’ the minister added, as Fine Gael began a fight-back on economic issues after losing ground over the past week.