The revelations about parties using fake pollsters must be taken seriously

The deceptive practices exposed last week may be historic, but they risk undermining the work of credible polling companies

The admission that most political parties here have posed as political pollsters, to conduct constituency polling cheaply, might on the face of it seem like a minor issue, but there are damaging aspects. Picture: Getty

Will Sinn Féin be sending people around to cut people’s hedges next weekend? Or Fine Gael sending them round to cut hair? Maybe Fianna Fáil could get them to read your meter? Each could be kitted out with fake IDs and just doing it because it’s cheaper than using the professionals.

I think that the public and the professions involved would be pretty upset if a political party decided to impersonate any of these professions ...