Today's Top Feature: Sinn Féin surpasses FF support in survey

SINN FÉIN commands more support among the public than Fianna Fáil, according to an opinion poll which suggests the Government is heading for meltdown in the looming general election.

SF’s convincing win in the Donegal South West by- election helped it soar to 16% in the snapshot national survey which recorded Fianna Fáil’s worst ever rating of just 13%.

If repeated in the general election, which will be held by March at the latest, such a result would see Fianna Fáil struggle to return as many as 20 TDs to the 166- seat parliament.

In a further humiliation for Mr Cowen, his personal rating hit another new low of 8% in the aftermath of the badly-handled EU/IMF bailout.

Fine Gael remain comfortably in the lead on 32%, according to the Red C poll for The Sun, which showed Sinn Féin’s rise is also hurting Labour, which received a lower than usual backing of 24%.

The Greens were on 3% and independents on 11%.

If SF’s surge was maintained it could — conceivably — open the way to a left of centre coalition with Labour and socialist independents — rather than the expected Fine Gael/Labour alternate government.

However, Sinn Féin is strongest in the 18-24 year age group — where it has the backing of one in four people — but this cohort is least likely to vote.

Labour’s Eamon Gilmore is favoured as Taoiseach by 41% with FG’s Enda Kenny well behind on 25%.

The news came as the Exchequer released better than expected figures, which revealed tax revenues, at €29.5bn, are almost half a billion euro ahead of the Government’s forecasts for the year.

The tax take, however, in the same period in 2007 was €46.5bn.