The Taoiseach has today again defended his Government's proposal to set up the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) despite an Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll revealing only 26 per cent of those surveyed are in favour of it.
Asked if they supported the Government’s Nama proposal as a way of removing bad loans from the banking system, 26 per cent of voters said they were for it, 40 per cent were against and 34 per cent had no opinion.
When asked if they favoured nationalising the banks, 36 per cent said they were for, 38 per cent were against and 25 per cent had no opinion.
Speaking on radio this morning, however, Brian Cowen said: "It's critical that we confront this issue head on, and in a comprehensive way.
"More commentators are coming around to the fact that this is the best way to do it," the Taoiseach said, speaking on Today FM.
However, Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter today said Nama demonstrated the Taoiseach was continuing where he left off as minister for finance.
In a statement today, the frontbencher said it was "high time" the Taoiseach admitted the "catastrophic decisions" he made as minister for finance.
"In reply to a question last night on the Late Late Showwith regard to what mistakes he made as Minister for Finance, the Taoiseach stated that 'looking back now, we should have taxed housing more than we did.'
“This extraordinary statement proves not only that the Taoiseach has learnt nothing but that he remains in denial of his gross incompetence as Minister for Finance and of his own responsibility for the banking crisis and economic catastrophe that has hit the country," Mr Shatter said.
“His single biggest failure was to ensure we had a proper functioning bank regulatory system that would have prevented a lot of the problems that came after.
"He failed to listen to the advice of those who warned that banks providing between 90 per cent to 100 per cent property loans were creating a housing bubble. He failed to rein in the banks and to listen to warnings being given by our Central Bank, the ESRI and Fine Gael’s finance spokesperson, Richard Bruton," Mr Shatter said.
"Tragically for the country, Nama shows that Brian Cowen as Taoiseach is continuing where he left off as Minister for Finance."
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said there was not public support for what the Government was doing, nor the Government itself.
"Fianna Fáil are now trying to ride against the wishes of the people and trying to force through a strategy . . . which is good for the banks and good for the property developers but is not good for the Irish public and the taxpayer," he said.
The latest poll was taken on Monday and Tuesday of this week among a representative sample of 1,000 voters in face-to-face interviews at 100 sampling points in all 43 constituencies. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 per cent.
It found that while Fianna Fáil supporters are the most strongly supportive of Nama, Green Party, supporters are the most strongly against.
Among Fianna Fáil voters, 46 per cent favour Nama, while 26 per cent are against. Among the Greens, 50 per cent are against the plan while only 21 per cent are for it.
Labour supporters are almost as hostile as the Greens, with 47 per cent against and 21 per cent for. Among Fine Gael supporters, 44 per cent are against and 25 per cent for the plan. Among Sinn Féin voters, 37 per cent are against and 24 per cent for.
The State is setting up Nama to buy loans with a book value of around €90 billion to cleanse banks' balance sheets. The agency will buy the loans at an as- yet undetermined discount that will determine how much new capital the banks need and whether the State is forced to take majority stakes.
Additional reporting Bloomberg