Poll finds 53% believe private equity firms should invest in Irish banks

JUST OVER half of leaders from government, business and social/representative group sectors believes private equity companies should participate in the recapitalisation of Irish banks, according to a new poll.

The TNS/mrbi leader poll found that 53 per cent of respondents were in favour, with 39 per cent against and 9 per cent unsure.

In the "government" category the majority was just 53 per cent, while in business the majority was 59 per cent.

In the remaining category 47 per cent believed private equity companies should participate, with 50 per cent against.

The poll tapped the opinions of Ireland's business leaders, business advisers, TDs, Senators, union leaders, economists, social and economic commentators, senior civil servants, senior religious and representatives of Ireland's charitable organisations.

Each segment was represented equally in the sample and, among TDs, the political parties were controlled to represent party preference.

A majority of respondents (70 per cent) also believed the public sector pay deal should be renegotiated.

The majority was 84 per cent when only the business sector respondents were taken into account, while the comparable figures for the other categories were: government (58 per cent); and social/representatives (67 per cent).

Asked when they thought the Irish economy would recover, the highest percentage of respondents (48 per cent) chose 2011. This held true across all categories of respondents.

Only 3 per cent of respondents felt the economy would recover next year while 28 per cent felt it would recover in 2010. Twelve per cent felt it would recover in 2012 while 7 per cent felt it would be some time beyond that.

Asked if they felt the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States was good news for Ireland, a majority (75 per cent) felt it was, while 15 per cent felt it was not. The corresponding figures for the government respondents were 71 per cent and 21 per cent.

Asked if government contributions to charitable organisations should be increased, held at current levels or reduced, given economic circumstances, a majority (58 per cent) felt they should be held at current levels.

A sizeable minority (35 per cent) was in favour of increasing Government contributions while just 5 per cent felt they should be reduced.

In the social/representative sector 53 per cent felt they should be increased, while in the business sector the corresponding figure was 19 per cent.

The survey involved 100 respondents and was carried out between December 4th and December 9th.