FORMER MINISTER AND Deputy leader of Fianna Fáil Mary Hanafin has said she intends to run for a Dáil seat in the next general election, potentially ending what will be a five-year absence from the political scene.

She added that the recent performance of the party in opinion polls in Dublin has been “brutal, absolutely appalling”, echoing the words last week of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Two polls over the weekend placed support for the party at between 20 and 22 per cent.

However, Hanafin said there’s still hope for the party.

“I have to say that the reaction of people that I meet on the ground is very encouraging and positive,” she told RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke programme, “but whether that would materialise into votes, you wouldn’t know”.

She told the programme that her decision not to run the European elections was based on the Dáil being her “main focus”, and that she will contest the Fianna Fáil convention in Dún Laoghaire for the next general election.

“I Intend to put my name before the people,” Hanafin said, “the people will decide whether I’m back or not”.

Mary Hanafin first entered the Dáil in 1997, and severed Chief Whip, Deputy Leader of Fianna Fail, and as Minister in several Departments.

Read: Martin open to Mary Hanafin running for Fianna Fáil in Dáil election >

Mary Hanafin: I’d love to run again but I don’t know if people will vote for me >