Fianna Fáil struggles in Dublin constituencies

FIANNA FÁIL has received unwelcome news on the eve of its ard fheis in a political poll which shows the party struggling in the key Dublin constituencies.

The poll measures party support across the 12 constituencies and shows Fianna Fáil on 32%, five points down on its 2002 general election showing.

By contrast, Fine Gael is up four points to 18%, and Labour is holding steady on 14%. Combined with a surge of five points for the Green Party, which is up to 13%, it means the potential alternative government have a combined vote share of 45% in Dublin.

The current government of Fianna Fáil and the PDs have just 38%, the latter having dropped one point to 6% since 2002.

Were those results to be realised in the election, it would put the alternative government in poll position to take power.

The Dublin constituencies account for 47 of the 166 Dáil seats and are crucial in determining the make-up of the Government.

Fine Gael will be particularly buoyed by the poll findings, given that the party’s haemorrhage in 2002 was particularly pronounced in the Dublin constituencies, where it lost all but three of its seats.

Not all the Opposition parties will be happy with the poll. Sinn Féin is down two points to 7%, raising questions about the party’s predictions of seat gains.

The survey of 500 likely voters was undertaken by Lansdowne Market Research and published in today’s Irish Daily Star.

Interviews were carried out across all 12 Dublin constituencies at 46 sampling points between Friday, March 16, and Tuesday last. The margin of error was plus or minus four points.