SINN FÉIN has overtaken Fine Gael to trail Fianna Fáil by just two points in a newly-published opinion poll.
The Panelbase poll for The Times puts Fianna Fáil on 23% of the vote, with Sinn Féin on 21% and Fine Gael further behind on 19%.
Based on a poll of 1,000 voters, the results continue the trend of previous polls that put opposition party Fianna Fáil ahead of Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael.
However, it represents the first to put Sinn Féin ahead of Fine Gael.
The poll, conducted between January 24-30, saw independents at 11% with the Green Party just behind them on 10%.
The Social Democrats, Labour and Solidarity-PBP were also all on 5%.
Any voters claiming they didn’t know who they would vote for were excluded from the poll.
They represented 13% of the original 1,000.
The poll carried a 3% margin of error.
The resulted follow two major television debates involving all of the party leaders with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar focusing his efforts on the economy and Brexit.
Opposition parties have meanwhile targeted Fine Gael’s record on housing and healthcare.
Ireland will go to the polls in one week.
