Greens and Labour may 'claw their way back' in upcoming local elections, poll data shows

Support for Labour and the Green Party for the local elections has grown strongly in Dublin, according the breakdown of the data from last week's Irish Times Ipsos/MRBI opinion poll.

Both parties suffered massive losses in Dublin after the financial crisis but Monday’s data shows they may, through local candidates, be clawing their way back.

Labour has grown to 14 per cent support in Dublin, while the Greens are at 10 per cent — both representing significant gains since March when voters were asked their voting intentions in the general election.

Fine Gael is at 24 per cent for the local elections in Dublin, while Fianna Fáil is at 17 per cent. Support for Sinn Féin is at 14 per cent in the capital.

Carlow County Council: People Before Profit claim seat for first time

---

Anti-gay preacher is first-ever banned from Ireland under exclusion powers

---

Some in FG say Kenny ‘took bullet’ over McCabe row – new book

---

Government’s failure over broadband deal details ‘an affront’ to taxpayers

---

The Social Democrats, who hope for a breakthrough local elections, are at just 2 per cent in Dublin, the same as Independents for Change.

Solidarity/People Before Profit are at 4 per cent. The regional breakdowns of a national poll are derived from a smaller sample size (the national sample size was 1,500 in this poll) and therefore carries a larger margin of error. They should be seen as indicative, rather than absolute numbers. However, they are useful as likely evidence of broad trends among voters.

The poll was taken in the middle of last week.

Elsewhere, Fine Gael has a strong lead in the rest of Leinster in the local elections with 32 per cent of the first preference vote, followed by Fianna Fáil on 23 per cent, Sinn Féin on 17 per cent, Labour on 6 per cent and the Green Party on 3 per cent.

The Social Democrats are on 1 per cent in Munster, Fianna Fáil leads the local elections race with 34 per cent, while Fine Gael is on 28 per cent. Support for Labour is at 3 per cent, while the Greens attract 4 per cent of first preference voters, according to the poll. Sinn Féin is on 12 per cent.

In Connacht-Ulster, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are almost neck-and-neck, with just a point separating them — Fine Gael on 26 per cent, Fianna Fáil 25 per cent.

Both Labour and the Greens register just 1 per cent each, while Sinn Féin is polling strongly on 18 per cent. As a group, the Independents and others (which includes the Greens, Solidarity/PBP and the Social Democrats) is at 30 per cent here.