The Taoiseach has welcomed the result of the latest Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll, which has shown improved ratings for the Government and Fianna Fáil.
Clearly pleased, Mr Ahern, speaking in Shanghai during a trade mission to China, said the public's evaluation of the Government's performance "is still ongoing".
"I said back in Inchydoney in September when we had our party conference after a bad showing in the local elections that we would have to listen carefully to what the people were saying and reflect in our policy development the concerns of people.
"In the last six months we have worked very hard at doing that. The corrective measures that we had to take to bring the economy back have assisted but our job is to keep on trying to reflect the views of the people and sincerely trying to implement that.
"We are democrats and we have to do that to the best of our ability. I think we are doing our best to do that, but we have a lot of work still to do," he told a press conference.
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said the solid showing for Sinn Féin in the poll shows that supporters of the party are ambivalent to serious crimes including the murder of Belfast woman Jean McConville.
She also said that the fact Mr Gerry Adams's personal satisfaction rating fell by 9 per cent shows that the general public did not accept his party's stance on the issue or believe that the IRA was not involved in the Northern Bank robbery.
According to the poll in yesterday's Irish Times, Sinn Féin's support has remained steady at 11 per cent despite party leaders refusing to condemn Ms McConville's murder and the IRA being blamed for the £26.5 million robbery.
"Perhaps some of the support for Sinn Féin is so solid that it is not affected by many of these issues, which is quite remarkable . . .
"The personal rating of Mr Adams is substantially down which perhaps reflects the wider population's view on what has been happening in recent times," Ms Harney said.
"The population at large is dismayed to think that a party does not consider it a crime to murder a mother in front of her children. Most normal people's values would not accept that," she said.