Tomas Doherty
Support for Sinn Féin has jumped six points to 37 per cent approval, according to the latest opinion poll.
The Sunday Times/Behaviour & Attitudes poll shows satisfaction with the party's leader, Mary Lou McDonald, is at 50 per cent – nine points clear of Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Fine Gael's standing remains unchanged at 21 per cent, while Fianna Fáil have dropped 3 points to 20 per cent.
Overall satisfaction with the Government has slipped two points to 38 per cent.
The poll was carried out between October 28th and November 2nd, following the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin.
Ms McDonald used her address at the Ard Fheis on October 30th to criticise Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, urging the public to “call time on their century-old stranglehold on power”.
The party leader said the “writing is on the wall” for the coalition parties.
Standing in front of the banner, Time for Change, she told the party faithful that the parties led by Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin have been in government for “too long”.
She said the pandemic had exposed the “broken system” in a partitioned Ireland.
The party’s historic performance in the 2020 election saw the party return 37 TDs, with 25 per cent of the vote.
Ms McDonald, who has led the party since February 2018, said the party would lead a Government “that puts workers and families first”.
The day-long conference saw Sinn Féin pass a motion to support the use of non-jury courts in “exceptional cases”.
The three-judge Special Criminal Court has been used in trials of dissident republicans and gangland criminals, and has no jury in order to avoid any potential intimidation of members.
The party had long been an opponent of the non-jury court, which was the subject of criticism by several parties. The change in policy by Sinn Féin is widely seen as removing a barrier to entering coalition government after the next general election. – Additional reporting: PA
