Strong poll showing for Sinn Féin’s Doolan

AN opinion poll carried out in the Dublin South-East constituency shows a surprisingly strong showing for Sinn Féin’s Daithí Doolan.

According to a very senior Fianna Fáil source, the private poll conducted by a professional market research company indicates that Mr Doolan commands support levels of 13%, one percentage point behind Fine Gael. While that would give SF little chance of taking a seat in the four-seater constituency, it comes amid continuing criticism of the party and the IRA in the wake of the murder of local man, Joseph Rafferty.

The republican movement was criticised in the latest Independent Monitoring Commission report in relation to Mr Rafferty's murder. The IMC stated it had no reason to believe that the murder was carried out of behalf of the IRA, but it said that it believed that "members of both Sinn Féin and the IRA were aware in advance of the threat and did not take sufficient action to prevent it."