Ahead of tomorrow's Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, half of the parliamentary party has indicated to RTÉ News who they will vote for in a leadership contest.
Of the 73 members of the parliamentary party 62 responded on a confidential basis, which represents 85% of the parliamentary party.
The telephone poll was carried out yesterday by RTÉ Political Correspondent Martina Fitzgerald.
A total of 23 people said they were supporting Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar, which represents almost a third of the parliamentary party, while 13 said they were voting for Minister for Housing Simon Coveney.
A further 26 said they have not decided or would not be indicating their intentions at this stage.
Nine did not respond and two others, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and one senior minister, were not contacted.
There are currently 73 members of the parliamentary party, which is made up of 50 TDs, 19 senators and four MEPs.
Under the party rules, the leadership is decided by an electoral college, which gives members of the parliamentary party 65% of the votes, ordinary members 25% and councillors 10%. The parliamentary party therefore has significant voting power in the contest.
Poll gauges Fine Gael parliamentary party mood ahead of leadership contest - @MartinaFitzg reports https://t.co/FgwKJVgfJx pic.twitter.com/559ow1ykiP
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 9, 2017
Although a contest has not officially begun, there is intensive campaigning by the two camps with individual meetings with TDs and senators, and also campaign teams contacting councillors.
It is not yet clear if there will be other candidates in the leadership contest.
A similar poll of the parliamentary party was carried out in February.
When asked about the result, Mr Varadkar said polls were encouraging and always good for morale but they were just polls and there is no vacancy yet.
At the end of March, Mr Kenny told the parliamentary party he would deal with the leadership issue after the 29 April European Union Council meeting.
He was unable to attend last week's meeting as he was travelling to Canada and tomorrow's meeting is his first opportunity to address the party since the EU summit.
