A new opinion poll has suggested support for Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has fallen by 11 percentage points in the wake of the Jim Gavin presidential candidate controversy, to his lowest personal rating in half a decade.
The poll also suggests support for Fianna Fáil has fallen 5% and now stands at 17%.
This compares to Sinn Féin, which the poll suggests now has a significant lead with a 5% rise in support to 27%.
Fine Gael is up 1% to 18%, Labour is up 2% to 6%, Social Democrats are down 1% to 5%, and Aontú is up 1% to 3%.
The Green Party, People Before Profit-Solidarity and Independent Ireland remain unchanged on 3%, 2% and 2%, while unaligned Independents/others remain on 17%.
The poll, which has a margin of error of +/-2.8%, was conducted by Ipsos and Behaviour & Attitudes on behalf of the Irish Times using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 people between 12-14 October.
This period came days after Mr Martin faced significant pressure over his leadership of the party in the aftermath of Mr Gavin's unprecedented decision to pull out of the presidential campaign despite being an official candidate.
Mr Martin had been key in convincing his party to nominate Mr Gavin.
According to today's poll, Mr Martin's suggested support as a leader has now fallen 11 percentage points to 33%, his lowest rating in the Ipsos and Behaviour & Attitudes poll since 2020.
However, asked specifically if Mr Martin should have resigned as Fianna Fáil leader over the controversy, 51% of respondents said he should not, compared to 32% who said he should.
The same poll suggests Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald's personal support has risen 3% to 39%, and that Fine Gael leader Simon Harris's personal support has fallen 3% to 35%.
