Irish opposition keeps lead, government more secure - poll

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's opposition parties have kept their wide lead over Prime Minister Brian Cowen's governing coalition though he appears to have staved off the immediate threat of a snap election, an opinion poll showed on Sunday.

The Red C/Sunday Business Post poll said the opposition Fine Gael party's support had risen 1 percentage point since last month to 36 percent, while Cowen's Fianna Fail slid to 23 from 25.

Those who would vote in a parliamentary poll for Cowen's coalition allies the Greens increased their share to 5 percent from 3 percent in October, while opposition Labour fell to 17 percent from 19 last month.

Criticised by many voters for the handling of the recession, Cowen's position improved slightly after getting the EU's Lisbon reform treaty approved in last month's referendum, negotiating a new coalition deal with the Greens and securing parliamentary approval for a 54 billion euro (48.6 billion pounds) "bad bank."

"The government's chances of surviving -- and, therefore, avoiding the general election that would be certain to crystallise the Fine Gael lead -- look an awful lot better now than they did even a few months ago," Sunday Business Post Political Editor Pat Leahy said.

A parliamentary election is not normally due until 2012, but approving the 2010 budget could yet prove a challenge given the coalition's razor-thin majority and expected resistance from some members of Fianna Fail and the Green Party.

Cowen is determined to introduce further austerity measures on December 9 after two emergency budgets in little over a year, despite widespread protests and a public sector-wide strike planned for Tuesday.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan wants to derive 4 billion euros of savings mostly from spending cuts, so far resisting Green calls to try and raise more revenue from tax.

"We would be looking for somewhere between 800 million and 1 billion euros of savings to be made from taxation," the Sunday Times newspaper separately quoted Green Party Chairman Dan Boyle as saying.

Red C interviewed 1,000 people for the poll between November 16-18.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely)