Fianna Fáil Galway West TD Frank Fahey has said he believes a general election is "unlikely" before April or May of next year.
Mr Fahey made his comments following the publication today of The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, which showed support for Fianna Fáil at a record low of 17 per cent.
Speaking on RnaG's Athmhaidin morning programme this morning, Mr Fahey said his party was "worried" about the result.
He described the poll result as "bad news" for his party, saying it would only translate into about 30 seats if the election was held today.
Mr Fahey said he believed a general election would not be held until April or May, however, and insisted the Government has to proceed with implementation of the budget and the four year-plan.
"My belief is that we won’t have an election until maybe April or May. That is my belief," Mr Fahey said.
The Government has introduced "difficult" policies it now needs to implement. "Fine Gael and Labour have no solution. They want to change what we have done [in the budget and four year-plan]."
Commenting on the Green Party’s view that a poll should be held in January, Mr Fahey said: “I hope they look at where we are now”.
He said their difficulty was with the arrival of IMF. “Everyone had a difficulty that night,” Mr Fahey said.
"We are now proceeding with the budget and the four-year plan. Agreement has been reached with the IMF and EU, and from now on I believe things will improve month-on-month", the Galway West TD insisted.
