his Poll Average was calculated by doing a time-rated average of the last five Irish Opinion Polls (with adjustments for each polling compant based on their historical deviation from the overall average of polls). Regional sub-data for Dublin and the provinces is also used to account for Regional Swings.

The main points of this Poll Average are :

• The Government Parties (Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Greens) would take 86 seats – 43 for Fianna Fáil, 42 for Fianna Fáil and 1 for the Greens.
• The Opposition Parties (Sinn Féin, Labour, Social Democrats, Solidarity-People Before Profit, Aontu) would take 47 seats – 31 for Sinn Féin, 2 for Labour and 14 for the other three parties.

Bear in mind that there 14 extra seats in the new Dáil.

MAIN RESULTS

The Overall National Results are as follows :

PARTY	%	(+/- 2020)	SEATS	(+/- 2020)
GOVERNMENT	46%	-2%	86	+1
Fine Gael	23%	+2%	42	+7
Fianna Fáil	20%	-2%	43	+5
Greens	3%	-4%	1	-11
OPPOSITION	33%	-5%	47	–9
Sinn Féin	19%	-6%	31	–6
Labour	4%		2	-4
Others	11%	+2%	14	+1
INDEPENDENTS	21%	+9%	41	+22

Note : Others includes smaller parties (Social Democrats, Aontu and Solidarity-People Before Profit) grouped together as the method I use to determine swing doesn’t work well with small numbers. The individual seat numbers for these parties are – Solidarity-People Before Profit 7, Social Democrats 6, Aontu 1. These parties will be generally targetting specific constituencies for seat gains and holds, whereas the three larger parties will be actively contesting each (or nearly each) constituency.

In terms of Government formation, the Government parties (Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens) would take 46% of the vote and 86 of the 174 seats – just under half. The Opposition (Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, Labour, Solidarity and People Before Profit, and Aontu) would take 33% of the vote and 47 of the 174 seats – far far short of a majority. I will make a caveat that I think that the Independent seat take is probably overstated. That said, where there are electable Independents standing in Dublin on polling day – and some Independents notched up impressive wins in the locals – they are likely to have a good day.

I’d have to add a caveat that the Social Democrats seat total is probably underestimated given that they are polling relatively strongly – on the other hand the only other constituency they polled decently in in 2020 (besides the six constituencies they won a seat in) was Galway West, and their seat in Cork South-West – not withstanding the incumbent’s elevation to their leadership – could potentially be vulnerable on paper at least.

PROVINCIAL RESULTS

PARTY	DUBLIN	LEINSTER	MUNSTER	CONN.-ULS.
GOVERNMENT	43% -5	48% -7	50% -2	41% -4
Fine Gael	21% nc	24% nc	22% +2	26% +7
Fianna Fáil	16% +1	22% -3	26% nc	13% -8
Greens	6% -6	2% -4	2% –4	2% -3
OPPOSITION	41% -4	30% -8	30% nc	32% -2
Sinn Féin	19% -8	18% -8	17% -3	22% -5
Labour	7% +1	2% -3	3% -2	2% +1
Others	15% +3	10% +3	10% +5	8% +2
INDEPENDENTS	16% +9	22% +12	22% +4	27% +11

Looking firstly at the overall Bloc figures the government parties (bar the Greens) remain fairly steady in Dublin, while falling back slightly in the provinces. By contrast, the opposition lose heavily in Dublin, with less dramatic falls of support in the province. Conversely the Independent vote more than doubles in Dublin.

In 2020, Sinn Féin took 27% in Dublin; now they are at 19%. Support for Independent candidates has doubled. Despite their vote nearly halving, on this result Sinn Féin would not lose that many seats in Dublin as in 2020 they did not run enough candidates to take advantage of their large vote haul – extra seats could have been won in Dublin South-Central, Dublin North-West, Dublin Bay North, Dublin Central and Dublin South-West. You’d have to wonder if at least part of that Independent (and small parties) gain is going to anti-immigrant/far-right candidates and parties.

PARTY	DUBLIN	LEINSTER	MUNSTER	CONN.-ULS.
GOVERNMENT	23 -2	25 +2	24 +1	14 nc
Fine Gael	11 +1	11 +1	10 +2	10 +3
Fianna Fáil	11 +4	14 +3	14 +1	4 -3
Greens	1 -7	0 -2	0 –2	0 nc
OPPOSITION	19 nc	12 nc	9 –2	7 -1
Sinn Féin	9 -1	9 +1	7 nc	6 -1
Labour	2 +1	0 -2	0 -2	0 nc
Others	8 nc	3 +1	2 nc	1 +1
INDEPENDENTS	7 +7	11 +2	13 +5	10 +3

Looking at those numbers in terms of blocs, the Government parties (Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens) would take 46% of the vote and 86 of the 174 seats – 2 short of a majority. The Opposition (Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, Labour, Solidarity and People Before Profit, and Aontu) would take 33% of the vote and 47 of the 174 seats – 41 short of a majority.

CONCLUSION

The first thing to note is that in 2020 Sinn Féin – despite gaining nearly two quotas in Dublin Bay North, Dublin Central, Dublin South-Central, Dublin South-West and Dublin Bay North – took only one seat in each constituency as the party only had one candidate standing in each constituency. However, the recent patterns in poll averages suggest that in none of these constituencies would Sinn Fein now win a second seat with their Dublin vote down by a third.

By contrast, Fine Gael would make gains in all parts of the country, with consistent gains in each province. They would also be the biggest party in each province.

In previous analyses, the Green Party generally held onto three or four seats in Dublin (while being wiped out beyond the M50) due to their vote holding up relatively well in the Capital. However a further slide in their vote there sees them only holding on in Dublin Bay South – and this analysis is based upon the 2020 General Election figures, not the 2021 bye-election where Ivana Bacik decisively won the Centre-Left vote. In Fingal, Joe O’Brien, despite being one of the few Green TDs to have a strong local base in the town of Skerries (35% in 2020, 51% in the 2019 bye-election), sees his vote cut in half by the partition of Fingal. Their problem is that previously their remaining support – about 4 to 5% – was disproportionately based in Dublin. However, their support in Dublin has recently fallen and the compensating gain in the provinces is not enough to retain seats.

The predictor only shows two gains for Labour – however to be fair to them, even provinicial poll figures don’t necessarily capture the support of particular Labour Candidates in constituencies/strongholds such as Louth (Drogheda), Kildare South (Athy), Wexford (Wexford Town), Tipperary North (Nenagh) etc.

Another stronghold is Mallow which has been sundered from Cork East and grafted onto Cork North-Central; Labour are running two candidates here, one from the City and one from the county. It will be an interesting constituency to watch.

As regards the Smaller parties, Solidarity/People Before Profit and Independents For Change are facing a possible loss in Dublin South-Central where the Left took two (Brid Smith and Joan Collins) of the four seats in 2016 with less than a quota between thanks to the absence of a second Sinn Féin candidate. On the plus side, the extra seat in Dublin West could see a gain there and Cllr Dean Mulligan (Independents 4 Change) who topped the poll in Swords could take a seat in Fingal East.

The calculator suggests a loss of Holly Cairns’ seat in Cork South-West on the cold hard figures, but whether that transpires in is another matter – her vote is very much local and unlikely to be swayed much by national or regional poll figures. Interestingly, the Social Democrats lost her council seat in Bantry, but their candidates won seats in Clonakilty-Sjibbereen and Bandon-Kinsale. The fall in the Sinn Féin vote will also assist her.

Lastly, the predictor predicts a slew of Independent gains across the country.. Whether they materialise – ie whether an independent candidate capable of taking them will be in situ in each constituency – is another question, particularly in Dublin.

Thanks for reading.

More to be added soon.