The overwhelming majority of voters, 85 per cent, believe Mr Liam Lawlor should now resign his Dail seat, according to an Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll.
With Mr Lawlor's continued membership due to be debated on the resumption of the Dail on Tuesday, a large majority are also unhappy with the Government's handling of the affair.
The poll was conducted among a national quota sample of 1,000 voters at 100 sampling points in every constituency throughout the State last Monday and Tuesday while Mr Lawlor was in Mountjoy Prison.
It shows strong approval, 64 per cent, of the way Mr Lawlor has been treated by the Flood tribunal and the courts, which jailed him for a week for his refusal to co-operate with the tribunal, with 25 per cent not satisfied.
More than four in every five voters believe Mr Lawlor should resign now. Only 7 per cent say he should not. The level of support for his immediate resignation is almost as high among Fianna Fail voters: 83 per cent believe he should quit while 9 per cent think he should not.
A clear majority of 53 per cent are dissatisfied with the Government's response to the Lawlor case, while 34 per cent of voters are satisfied. The poll was taken after the Taoiseach and his Ministers had been slow to condemn Mr Lawlor for his contempt, and had rejected Fine Gael demands to call on him to resign his Dail seat immediately.
??????????ail is expected to debate a Government motion on Tuesday calling on him to co-operate with the Flood Tribunal and saying he should resign if he does not do so within the time scale laid down by the courts. This time scale could give him until next November.
Fianna Fail supporters approve of the Government's response to Mr Lawlor's position by a narrow margin of 47 per cent to 40 per cent. Labour supporters disapprove most strongly of the Government's handling of the issue, with 75 per cent dissatisfied and just 22 per cent satisfied.
Clear majorities of Fine Gael supporters (59 per cent to 30 per cent), PD supporters (63 per cent to 34 per cent) and supporters of others (58 per cent to 26 per cent) also disapprove.
Turning to the recent meetings between the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, and the Northern parties, 55 per cent think nationalists should join the new Northern Ireland Police Service. Some 15 per cent say they should not. The Government, the SDLP and Sinn Fein have so far refused to call on nationalists to join, pending the outcome of talks on further changes sought by the nationalist parties.
Broad economic issues dominate the agenda when asked what issues will influence the way they vote in the next election. The economic issues nominated by voters included prices/ inflation (29 per cent), jobs/unemployment (19 per cent), taxation (17 per cent) and the economy in general (16 per cent). Some 9 per cent put forward the division between rich and poor, with the same figure mentioning the traffic issue.
Voters were not presented with options, but were asked to nominate issues themselves. Over a third of voters, 34 per cent, listed health, hospitals and medical services among the first priorities to influence their vote. Housing/homelessness was the next most often mentioned, with 21 per cent nominating it.
Other issues voters put forward were education, schools and training (17 per cent), scandals disclosed at tribunals and honesty (15 per cent), crime (14 per cent), the Northern peace process (6 per cent), immigration (3 per cent) and childcare and children's issues (3 per cent).
The Labour Party has tabled an amendment to the Government motion calling on Mr Lawlor to resign his seat voluntarily. Mr Brendan Howlin said the Government motion sought to "put on the long finger" any recommendation regarding Mr Lawlor and was an inadequate response to the serious contempt he had shown for the tribunal and the High Court orders.
Mr Lawlor had done significant damage to the Oireachtas and to the political system, Mr Howlin said. "The Government motion seeks to give Deputy Lawlor another chance, but there is not enough in his recent conduct to suggest that he deserves one."