Tánaiste Simon Coveney has played down an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll suggesting that three quarters of voters want a change of government, and predicted that support for Fine Gael will grow as polling day draws closer. When you look at the record of the last Fianna Fáil-led government, 356,000 people lost their jobs,” he said. ‘In command’When asked if he thought Fine Gael would be performing better in the polls if he was leading the party rather than Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mr Coveney jumped to the defence of his colleague. Asked about comments by former coalition partner and Labour leader Brendan Howlin, who said Fine Gael’s legacy in office was “almost as toxic” as Fianna Fáil’s, Mr Coveney suggested the Wexford TD was “playing politics”. He was minister for public expenditure when Fine Gael and Labour rebuilt this country after Fianna Fáil devastated it and drove us off a cliff,” he said.

Source: The Irish Times January 22, 2020 14:15 UTC