Overall satisfaction in the government and Leo Varadkar's approval rating went down also.
Fianna Fáil enjoys a small lead over Fine Gael following a sharp drop in support for the government, according to the
Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll.
The latest poll shows that Fianna Fáil has taken the lead over its main rival for the first time in three years.
The poll was conducted on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week and it's based on the opinions of 1,200 adults from 120 locations in every constituency.
The accuracy level is estimated at plus or minus 2.8%.
According to the poll, 25% of voters would like to see Fianna Fáil win the General Election, with 23% opting for Fine Gael.
Sinn Féin also performed very strongly in the recent poll, they registered 21% of the vote.
Elsewhere, 5% opted for Labour, 8% for the Green Party, and 18% for Independents and small parties.
20% of voters told the pollsters they were undecided.
Here's a full breakdown of the Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll:
Fianna Fáil 25% (no change in three months)
Fine Gael 23% (-6)
Sinn Féin 21% (+7)
Greens 8%
Labour 5% (-1)
Solidarity-PBP 2% (+1)
SocDems 2% (+1)
Inds4Change 1% (-1)
Ind Alliance% 1
Others 3% (+1)
Independents 10%
Elsewhere, the sense of satisfaction in the government - which was 42% in October - is now down to 27%. Leo Varadkar's personal approval rating- which was 51% in October - is now down to 35% also.
Similarly, Micheál Martin's personal approval level is at 33% (down by 5%), Mary Lou McDonald's level has gone up to 34%, while Brendan Howlin's personal approval rating is at 17% (down by 3%).
Fianna Fail's increase in popularity with Irish voters corresponds to the recent
Sunday Times/Behaviour & Attitude opinion poll, which saw the Micheál Martin-led
party take a 12-point lead over Fine Gael.
Here's the breakdown of the latest opinion poll.
