THE GOVERNMENT IS significantly short of the support it will need in order to be re-elected, according to a new poll published this morning.

An Ipsos MRBI poll for the Irish Times shows Fine Gael down two to 28% and Labour unchanged on 7%, well short of the support needed to secure a second term.

There’s good news for Fianna Fáil which is up two to 21%, but bad news for Sinn Féin which is down two to 19%.

Support for independents and other parties is up two to 25%.

The poll comes as the first full day of campaigning in the general election gets underway across the country.

The poll was conducted on Monday and Tuesday this week, before the election was called.

It shows that all parties have work to do in order to convince the electorate who go the polls in 22 days’ time.

With no party or no potential coalition combination garnering enough support for a majority, the 32nd Dáil will be a hung parliament on current numbers.

Within the independents and other parties category support for non-aligned independents is at 8%, the AA-PBP alliance is on 4%, the Independent Alliance is on 3%, the Social Democrats are on 2%, the Greens are on 2% and Renua is on 1%.

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