Poll shows increased competition for Euro seats

An opinion poll carried in tomorrow's edition of The Irish Timesindicates an increase in competition in all four constituencies for the thirteen seats allocated to Ireland in the European Parliament.

The gap between Royston Brady and his Fianna Fáil colleague Eoin Ryan has narrowed to two points in Dublin while independent candidate Kathy Sinnott has seen a surge in support to bring her into contention for the third and final seat in the South Constituency.

In the four-seat Dublin constituency, a strong surge in support for Gay Mitchell of Fine Gael sees him topping the poll up from nineteen per cent in mid-May to 24 per cent this week.

Fianna Fáil's Royston Brady sees a three point drop in his support to 15 per cent since the last poll, narrowing the gap with fellow candidate Eoin Ryan, who remains unchanged at 13 per cent at two points.

The battle for the fourth seat has intensified with the Labour Party's Proinsias De Rossa seeing a drop of two per centage points to12 per cent. De Rossa is now level with Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald and only two points ahead of fellow Labour Party running mate Ivana Bacik who has increased her support to 10 per cent.

The Green Party candidate and sitting MEP, Patricia McKenna, sees a further drop in support of two points bringing her into single figures at 8 per cent.  The Socialist Party's Joe Higgins drops a point from 4 to 3 per cent.

In the South Constituency, Fianna Fáil's Brian Crowley continues to lead the pack with a strong lead at 32 points. Crowley's increase of one point increases the gap between himself and Fine Gael's Simon Coveney who lies nine points behind at 23 points, down three from the previous poll.

There is more of a contest for the third and final seat in this constituency with Kathy Sinnott showing a strong increase in support to put her in third place at 15 per cent, up six since the last poll. Gerard Collins of Fianna Fáil is in trouble with a drop in support of three per cent to 14 per cent.

Sinn Féin's David Cullinane leads the rest with 8 per cent, up two. He is followed by Labour's Brendan Ryan on 4 per cent, down one. The Green Party's Chris O'Leary is unchanged at 3 per cent, two ahead of independent Gerard Hannan.

Fine Gael sees the largest swing in the three seat East Constituency with Avril Doyle dropping into second place from joint first - down six points to 17 per cent - nine points behind Fianna Fáil's Liam Aylward who is on 26 per cent. However, her drop in support corresponds with an increase of four points in the fortunes of fellow Fianna Gael candidate Mairead McGuinness who sits in line for the third seat with 16 per cent.

Labour's Peter Cassells is in fourth place down two points to 12 per cent, two ahead of Sinn Féin's John Dwyer who is up one per centage point to 10.

The North West constituency sees the tightest competition with five candidates each within three points of the top of the poll. Fianna Fáil's Jim McDaid leads with 18 per cent, up two since mid-May.

His colleague, Seán Ó Neachtain sees a drop in support of three points to fall from the top of the poll into second place with 17 per cent. Marian Harkin (non-party) and Fine Gael's Jim Higgins share third place on 16 per cent. Harkin remains unchanged and Higgins sees a single point increase.

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty sees the biggest increase in support in this constituency with a jump of six points from his nine per cent in the last poll to his current 15 per cent.