exclusive Fine Gael sees support drop after bruising month for Leo Varadkar’s party in latest opinion poll

Leo Varadkar has failed to secure a bounce in the opinion polls for his party in his first full month back in the Taoiseach’s office as support for Fine Gael has fallen.

The latest Ireland Thinks poll for the Sunday Independent shows a three point drop for Fine Gael to 22pc after a bruising month for Mr Varadkar’s party.

Fine Gael had to contend with the resignation of junior minister Damien English after it emerged that he lied on a planning application in 2008 and the considerable controversy over undisclosed donations to Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe for his two most recent election campaigns.

In better news for the Coalition, Fianna Fáil has seen its support rise by two points to 18pc, while the Greens remain unchanged on 4pc.

The boost for Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s party also comes partly at the expense of Sinn Féin whose support has again fallen, by one point to 31pc.

It is the third successive month that support for Mary Lou McDonald’s party has fallen after it went as high as 37pc last October, but Sinn Féin remains the most popular party in the country.

There has also been a slight increase in support for the current Coalition continuing in Government after the next election.

Those polled were asked in a forced choice, which would be their preferred government with a Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government coming in at 43pc, up two since last November.

By contrast, a Sinn Féin led government excluding Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil came in at 41pc, down two on last November. Of those polled 16pc said they were not sure.

Elsewhere in the state of the parties, Labour has risen by one point to 4pc, while the Social Democrats are also up one point to 4pc.

Aontú has risen by a point to 4pc, with Solidarity-People Before Profit on 3pc, down one, and support for Independents and Others unchanged on 10pc.

The poll was taken on Thursday and Friday of this week among a sample of 1,212 people with a margin of error of +/- 2.9pc

For more polling and analysis see tomorrow’s Sunday Independent and Independent.ie