Poll shows Norris as presidential front-runner

Independent Senator David Norris is leading the presidential election race, according to a poll in today's Irish Independent.

According to the Millward Brown Lansdowne survey, Senator Norris has 21% of support, followed closely by Labour's Michael D Higgins on 19%.

The poll also shows that Mairead McGuinness has pushed ahead of her three rivals in the race to secure the Fine Gael party nomination.

She's on 10% support followed by Pat Cox on 7%, while Avril Doyle and Gay Mitchell are on 3% and 2% respectively.

Of the remaining Independents, 'Dragons' Den' TV star and businessman Sean Gallagher is on 6%, Mary Davis is on 4% and Niall O'Dowd is on 3%.