Kenneth Fox
Sinn Féin remains the most popular party in the country, according to a pair of opinion polls released on Sunday.
As the Irish Examiner reports, a Behaviour and Attitudes survey for the Sunday Times shows Mary Lou McDonald's party on 35 per cent - down only a point on July's poll.
While Sinn Féin remains ahead, Fianna Fáil has increased its support to 24 per cent, up three points.
Party members also pointed out that the poll took place in the midst of the Robert Troy controversy.
Fine Gael though are adrift from their coalition partner on 20 per cent, down a point. With the Green Party on 5 per cent, the overall support for the Government parties is down three points.
Labour finds itself down two to 4 per cent the Social Democrats rise by one to 3 per cent, People Before Profit climb by one point to 2 per cent and Aontu is down one point to 0 per cent.
The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points.
Meanwhile, A Red C poll published for the Business Post paints an even worse picture for Fine Gael.
With Sinn Féin at 35 per cent, also down a point, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar's party records its worst result in a Red C/Business Post poll since they started in 2005 - 18 per cent of support.
It marks the third such poll in a row that the party has lost support.
In that poll, Fianna Fáil climbs by three points to 17 per cent, the Green Party up one to 5 per cent, the Social Democrats unchanged at 4 per cent, Labour up one point to 4 per cent, People Before Profit down one to 3 per cent, Aontú down one to 2 per cent and Independents at 12 per cent, unchanged.
The record low support comes on the heels of Fine Gael's think-in which took place in Kilkenny on Friday.
