Fine Gael on a roll

WITH the latest opinion poll showing Fine Gael tantalisingly close to overall Dáil majority territory, the 2011 General Election is theirs to mess up.

In Clare, for the first time in its history, it can be predicted with a fair degree of certainty that Fine Gael will hold two of the four seats on offer, something which could only have been said of Fianna Fáil up to now.
In fact, on this occasion, Fianna Fáil, in a complete reversal of fortunes in the Banner County, can realistically expect just one seat, with outgoing TD Timmy Dooley trying to ward off a strong challenge from Dr John Hilley, who has returned from Dublin to his native county to contest the election. While it is likely the final seat will result in a showdown between Independent James Breen and Labour’s Michael McNamara, Fine Gael’s Tony Mulcahy, with his party on an upward trend of support, certainly cannot be ruled out of the equation.
The Millward-Brown opinion poll, published in Wednesday’s Irish Independent estimates nationwide party support as follows: Fianna Fáil 12%, Fine Gael 38%, Labour 23%, Green Party 3%, Sinn Féin 10%, Others 16%. Based solely on these poll figures, seat estimates are: Fianna Fáil 13, Fine Gael 78, Labour 42, Green Party 0, Sinn Féin 13, Others 20.
In a breakdown of the constituencies, the poll indicates that party support in Clare is: FF 14%, FG 52%, Lab 4%, GP 1%, SF 5% [no candidate] and others 24%.
Based solely on constituency-level estimates of party support, the poll has given a “guesstimate”  that in Clare, Fine Gael will take three seats and others [James Breen] one.
This, of course, doesn’t take into account local nuances and likely cross-party/independent voting under the proportional representation system. It does, in effect, confirm the liklihood of a Fianna Fáil seat loss.
The poll was conducted before Monday night’s five-way party leaders’ debate on RTÉ, it which it was felt Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny did pretty well. With the TG4 Irish debate also under his belt, the main party leaders will have just one more TV debate opportunity to try to unsettle him.
While Kenny’s satisfaction rating as a party leader has increased by three points to 30%, consistently strong performances by a number of experienced TDs have given the party a very solid look and drawn in a lot of previouly undecided voters.
In contrast, Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin is the most popular leader with a 42% rating but this is down two points since the last poll, while Labour’s Eamon Gilmore is down five points to 41%.
Such is the public rage against the outgoing Government that it will take more than scare stories about the pitfalls of single-party government to cause any serious harm to Fine Gael at this stage. The party may fall short the 83 seats needed for an overall majority, but Enda Kenny will be taoiseach.
On current trends, a Fine Gael deal with a small number of independents could leave Labour and potential tánaiste Eamonn Gilmore excess to requirement in forming the new government.

Jobs from green energy
AT a time of a continuing downward spiral of unemployment, an opportunity for recovery in Clare has emerged by way of concrete proposals for creating jobs by harnessing energy from natural resources.
Multinational utility companies are prepared to invest over €2 billion to harness the energy of County Clare’s “world class wind, wave, tidal and biomass resources”, according to the Clare County Development Board (CDB). The board this week launched its Integrated Strategy on Energy & Climate Change.  The plan sets out how Clare can become a low carbon county by 2017, as stated in the recently enacted Clare County Development Plan.
The strategy outlines plans to create carbon free commercial trading centres within Clare and generate hundreds of skilled jobs to serve the renewable energy market.
The opportunities in Clare to benefit from wind and renewal energy creation were referred to by a number of General Election candidates at The Clare Champion’s Burning Issues Debate in Ennis on Monday night. Deputy Joe Carey referred to the potential for manufacturing green energy turbines and other components in Clare and said we must strive to become a leader in this field.
At the launch of the strategy on Tuesday, CDB chairman Joe Arkins noted how it sets out the importance that County Clare places on its environment and heritage of renewable energy production.
“This comes at a time when the country is searching for solutions to many social and economic issues. Ireland’s economy is suffering badly in the global recession and County Clare has been affected. The county has also felt the financial effects of climate change during severe flooding and freezing weather last winter.  Despite having abundant renewable energy resources, the county and country are also heavily dependent upon imported fossil fuels to support our society and economy,” he said.
The low carbon economy is a central policy issue for all developed countries today, Gerard Dollard, director of the Clare County Development Board has stressed. “The Low Carbon Society and Economy is defined by its use of local renewable energy resources. The technology to support this economy will also see the creation of skilled employment and energy that can be exported around the world,” he said.
Pat Stephens of the Limerick Clare Energy Agency, chairman of the steering committee that delivered the strategy,  said wind, wave, tidal and biomass energy resources will be harnessed to create clean energy and great wealth for the county and the country.
In West Clare, there are a number of small wind farms in operation.  Other major projects are in the offing, some of which are subject to overcoming planning issues.
Green energy is certainly the way of the future but people’s concerns about installations’ interference with the environment or affects on health must be addressed.