Loss of conf idence in handling of Covid

AS CORONAVIRUS case numbers soar, it appears the public are losing confidence in the coalition’s ability to control the pandemic.

An Irish Mail on Sunday-Ireland Thinks poll reveals that despite support for the vaccine rollout, only 45% said they have confidence in the Government to tackle the pandemic – a drop of 10 points on last month’s poll.

Meanwhile, 46% of those surveyed said they do not have confidence in the Government’s ability to combat the spread of Covid-19, an increase of 11 points from the figure recorded in June.

The figures indicate a major swing against the Government in the space of just four weeks.

And this shift in support away from the Coalition partners is further underlined by a decline in the ratings of party leaders and key ministers.

Respondents were asked to score the leaders on a scale between zero and 10.

Confidence in all three-party leaders has declined with the sharpest fall experienced by Micheál Martin who, at 3.7 out of 10, is down by 0.7 points from the previous poll.

Leo Varadkar, at 4.2, has the highest competence rating, but he too is down by 0.3.

But in an indication that Sinn Féin’s increasingly confrontational approach may not be working, Mary Lou McDonald at 4.0 is down by 0.6.

Three key ministers continue to attract wretched ratings with Eamon Ryan at 2.2 – down 0.3 – again coming bottom of the pile.

Embattled Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien scores a fairly miserable 2.7, while his Cabinet colleague in Health, Stephen Donnelly, fares marginally better at 3.1.

In an indication that the public continues to support the medics over politicians, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan is streets ahead of his political rivals in the confidence stakes at 5.9.

Declining confidence in party leaders across all the divides have also leaked into the partypolitical ratings.

Sinn Féin, at 30%, remain the most popular party but a decline in support of two points for them and a small increase of one point in support to Fine Gael (25%) has

narrowed the gap between them.

Fianna Fáil, down one point to 14%, are still dangerously detached from the bigger two and are slipping ever closer to the herd of smaller parties. In that group, possibly courtesy of an Ivana

Bacik bounce, Labour at 7% – up three points – are the big movers in an otherwise stagnant scene.

The Social Democrats and Aontú remain stable at 5% and 4% respectively, while the Greens recorded a small increase to 4%.