Updated 4.17pm 

ENDA KENNY DID not play down speculation about an early election today, fuelling more talk that the country will be going to the polls as soon as next month.

The Taoiseach has hitherto said that the general election will take place in “early 2016″ but he was less committal when questioned about the matter today.

This morning in Mayo, he was asked three times by RTÉ News journalist Teresa Mannion whether the election will be called before Christmas.

Kenny said he had “a million opinion makers and one decision-maker” and insisted he could not be expected to make any comment on the date of the next election.

He was at the opening of a new power plant in his Mayo constituency.

When he was asked for a third time if there would be an election before Christmas, Kenny told RTÉ:

You don’t expect me to make any comment on that. People want to speculate about everything I do now that it’s in the context of an election, or so they say.

“So I’ve got to make the decision and I will make my decision in the best interests of the country of course.”

The latest remarks will fuel speculation that Kenny will go the country after the Budget announcement on Tuesday week.

While many within Fine Gael favour an early election, coalition partners Labour favour a vote in 2016 in the hope the party’s poll numbers recover.

Read: Michael Noonan has a view on when the election should be…

Analysis: The real truth about when the general election is