Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has admitted a recent political poll which shows a drop in support for Fine Gael and his leadership is “a bad” result.
However he said polls do not “faze him” and he wants to see support for his party back in the mid-20s.
An Irish Times poll released on Wednesday night shows that Sinn Féin is the most popular party with almost a third of poll voters at 32%.
The opinion poll puts Sinn Fein ahead of the main governing Coalition parties Fine Gael on 22% and Fianna Fáil on 20%.
The poll puts the Green Party at 7%.
Mr Varadkar’s personal approval rating dropped by 13 points to 43%, while Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s fell by eight points to 41%.
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald saw her satisfaction rating rise from 42% to 43%.
Reacting to the opinion poll, Mr Varadkar said: “Polls go up and polls go down.
“I never get too fazed by any one poll or even a string of polls.
“And I’m sure by focusing on the work, by focusing on the issues - Budget, housing, climate, law and order, all the things over the next few months, when we get those right we can recover some of the support that we lost.”
However, he admitted “it was a bad poll, there is no denying that.”
But he said “if you take that poll and it is a bad one and a disappointing one, if you add up the support for the Government parties, it’s 49% - that’s enough to win an election.”
He added: “But that wouldn’t be a result we’re happy with.
“Certainly I’d like to see Fine Gael back in the mid-20s and that’s what we’re going to be working towards.”
