Social Democrats' Holly Cairns remains most popular party leader in Ireland

Fine Gael, meanwhile, is now the most popular party in the country. It has increased its support by one percentage point to 20%

The 'Sunday Independent'/Ireland Thinks poll shows that Ms Cairns, the Social Democrats TD for Cork South West, has an approval rate of 40%, down one point compared to the previous month. File Picture: Gareth Chaney

Sun, 05 Jul, 2026 - 14:18

Louise Burne

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has remained the country’s most popular political leader, despite a slight dip in support, a poll has shown.

The Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll shows that Ms Cairns, the Social Democrats TD for Cork South West, has an approval rate of 40%, down one point compared to the previous month.

Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach Micheál Martin is the second-most popular leader on 35% (no change), followed by Fine Gael leader and Tánaiste Simon Harris on 33% (no change).

Like Ms Cairns, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Labour leader Ivana Bacik also saw their popularity levels falling by one point to 30% and two points to 28% respectively.

Fine Gael, meanwhile, is now the most popular party in the country. It has increased its support by one percentage point to 20%. Its coalition colleagues, Fianna Fáil, also gained one percentage point, bringing its popularity rating to 17%.

O'Callaghan says he is 'not for turning' on criminal legal aid reforms

EU-wide Occupied Territories Bill could include services as well as goods, McEntee says

Sinn Féin is now the second-most popular party in the State, falling one point to 19%.

The Social Democrats’ popularity remains unchanged at 12%, while Independents and others have climbed one point to 11%. Independent Ireland, meanwhile, has dropped two points to 7%.

The popularity of Aontú, Labour, the Green Party, and People Before Profit all remain unchanged, with the parties sitting at 6%, 3%, 3%, and 2% respectively.

Some 62% of respondents said that they disapproved of how the Government is handling its job, with just 29% approving.

Questions on Fianna Fáil’s future, meanwhile, also dominated the poll, as uncertainty over Mr Martin’s stewardship of the party continues.

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan is still the favourite to take over from the Taoiseach, with 52% of people stating they would like him to become the next leader of Fianna Fáil.

This is followed by social protection minister Dara Calleary on 17%, and public expenditure minister and Fianna Fáil deputy leader Jack Chambers on 16%.

Energy minister Darragh O’Brien was chosen as the next Fianna Fáil leader by 7% of respondents, while 4% of respondents backed children’s minister Norma Foley, and 3% said they would like to see higher education minister James Lawless take over.

The latest poll was conducted on July 3, and it had a sample size of 1,279 people. The poll’s margin of error was 2.8%.

Louise Burne is the Political Correspondent with the Irish Examiner.

Sinn Féin criticises Government over €50m 'waste' on rail IT system