Lenihan for Taoiseach, says business
Sunday August 01 2010
Almost two-thirds of Irish business owners would like Brian Lenihan to take over as Taoiseach from the embattled Brian Cowen, this year's Sunday Independent Business Owners survey found.
While the current Taoiseach survived a confidence motion in the Dail in July, the second in a year, business leaders in Ireland have little faith in his ability to lead the country. In fact, an overwhelming 63 per cent said that they would prefer to see Brian Lenihan lead the country.
It's a dramatic comedown for the Taoiseach. In a 2008 Sunday Independent poll shortly before he became leader, 78 per cent of respondents said they believed he would make a good Taoiseach.
Mr Cowen said recently that the Government wanted to make Ireland "the best place in Europe to relocate or expand and scale an SME", but it seems this has cut no ice with business owners.
Only 20 per cent of those polled said that they would vote for Fianna Fail if there was an election tomorrow, suggesting that even without Cowen at the helm, business owners don't trust Fianna Fail to lead the country out of recession.
Many of those polled by the Sunday Independent said that they would prefer Brian Lenihan to stay in the Department of Finance, saying he was doing a better job than any of his colleagues in government were.
- Harry Leech
Originally published in
