The Government has replaced a coalition of Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party as the preferred option for voters, according to the latest Irish TimesTNS/MRBI opinion poll.
The poll, which will appear tomorrow in The Irish Times, shows the Fianna Fail and Progressive Democrats option five percentage points ahead of Fine Gael and Labour, with the possible support of the Greens.
Asked the question: "which of these possible alternatives would like to see form the next government", 36 per cent opted for the current coalition while 31 per cent supported the alternative. Some 18 per cent supported either, while 15 per cent had no opinion.
The figures show a swing back to the Government compared to the last Irish TimesTNS/MRBI conducted in May, which put a Fine Gael-led alternative on 36 per cent, with 32 per cent for the current Coalition.
The poll was conducted last Monday and Tuesday among a representative sample of 1,000 voters at 100 sampling points in all the constituencies in the State.
The findings reflect polling published today which showed that the Government has not been politically damaged by the recent controversy over Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's personal finances.
The poll showed Mr Ahern's approval rating was up a point while Fianna Fail's jumped eight points. The Progressive with its leader Tanaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell
While the approval rating for the leaders of Fine Gael (+2), Labour (+7) and the Greens (+8) all rose; Fine Gael and Labour fell two and four points respectively while the Greens were unchanged.