Sinn Féin’s hopes of scoring a major election victory in Kerry seemed dashed today with the publication of a poll that shows their candidate failing to take a seat.
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Mr Martin Ferris
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The survey of 406 voters in the Kerry North constituency shows Sinn Féin’s Mr Martin Ferris trailing in fourth place in the poll. The results will be a huge disappointment to the party leaders, who see Mr Ferris’ election as central to their avowed ambitions of gaining as many as six seats in the next Dáil.
The poll shows Fine Gael’s Mr Jimmy Deenihan romping home easily with 28.5 per cent of those questioned saying they will give him their first preference.
He is closely followed by former Tanáiste, Mr Dick Spring on 25.3 per cent.
In third place is Mr Ferris, with a healthy 16.8 per cent of support. However, according to the IMS poll conducted jointly for RTÉ and the Irish Independent, he will be squeezed out by the Fianna Fáil pairing of Senator Dan Kiely and Mr Tom McEllstrim.
For Mr Kiely is expected to pick up a large proportion of his running mate’s surplus and be elected on the third count.