Dublin will be the bear pit of the next election

THE Irish Examiner/Lansdowne opinion poll gives further credence to the widespread view among political parties that Dublin will be the bear pit of the next election campaign.

From these findings, it looks like Labour, Sinn Féin and possibly the Green Party could make gains at the expense of Fianna Fáil and perhaps the PDs.

But Fine Gael’s poor showing of 12% in the capital suggests that the party will have its work cut out in reversing its disastrous performance in 2002, where the party returned only three seats in Dublin after losing six, including two in Dun Laoghaire.