upport for Fine Gael has plummeted eight percentage points, an opinion poll has indicated.
A survey carried out by Behaviour And Attitudes (B&A) for the Sunday Times has put support for Fine Gael at 15%, Fianna Fail at 21% (up one percentage point), and the Greens at 6% (up one point).
This is seven points down on the Fine Gael vote in the 2020 general election, and the lowest support for the party recorded in a B&A poll.
Meanwhile, support for Sinn Fein is at 37%, up five points since the last survey in March, in one of its strongest polling results.
The findings come after the Government was strongly criticised for lifting its winter eviction ban at the end of March, despite soaring rates of homelessness and high rents.
As of February, there were 11,742 people in emergency accommodation, the second highest tally on record, while property website Daft.ie found that rents nationally are 126% above prices in late 2011.
Three parliamentary votes have been forced by the opposition to put pressure on the Government since it made its decision on March 7, with the coalition parties winning each one.
Sinn Fein had called for the moratorium on no-fault evictions to be extended until the end of January 2024, to buy time for the Government to introduce measures to ease the housing crisis.
Further pressure came after it was revealed that 4,300 notices to quit were issued in the final three months of last year.
The Government has stressed that extending the ban would have made supply issues worse in the long-term, and that notices to quit do not translate directly to homelessness.
Housing campaigner Peter McVerry has warned that the country faces a “tsunami of misery”, while other activists have warned that emergency accommodation services will be put under immense pressure.
The poll also found the Labour Party, who tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government after the eviction ban was lifted, is on 4%, down one point.
Aontu are on 2%, up two points, while independent candidates are collectively on 8%, down one point.
There is no change for the Social Democrats (4%) or Solidarity-PBP (2%).
The in-person B&A survey was carried out between March 28 and April 4, and there is a margin of error of 3.3%.
