Fine Gael slumped five points in the latest opinion poll as controversies surrounding Irish Water continue to haunt the Government.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny's party fell to 24 per cent in the latest Sunday Independent poll, just 1 per cent in front of Fianna Fáil, whose position remains unchanged at 23 per cent.
Sinn Féin is at 21 per cent unchanged from the previous one while Labour gained just 1 per cent, bringing them to 7 per cent total.
The drop in support for Fine Gael seems to have deflected to the Independents.
Its vote has increased by 4 per cent to 24 per cent with Renua on 1 per cent, the Socialist Party at 2 per cent and the newly formed Social Democrats at 0.5 per cent.
Minister of State at the Department of Finance Simon Harris said it was interesting to see support for Independents grow.
He told The Irish Times: "I think when people start concentrating on the election issues like stability will become a factor.
“It is all well and good (that) people support Independents, but how could you have a functioning stable Government if they were 50 Independents?
“Independents can’t agree speaking time, how can they come together and agree a Budget?”
Mr Harris said he was confident that when an election was called people would choose stability over the chaos he said Independents would bring.
Labour Minister of State Aodhan O’Riordain said he had been canvassing voters over the past number of weeks.
He said the message was that Government had done a good job but “had made a mess out of Irish Water”.
The poll was taken from July 19th to 30th as the news that Irish Water had failed the Eurostat test came to light.
The results show Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin is the favourite party leader on 32 per cent.
He is followed by Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams who at 30 per cent.
The Taoiseach is down seven points to 25 per cent, Joan Burton is down six points to 20 per cent, while Renua leader Lucinda Creighton is down five points to 16 per cent.
Satisfaction with the Government dropped four points to 25 per cent.
