Fine Gael has plummeted to its lowest ever rating in The Sunday Times/Behaviour & Attitudes polling series, falling seven points in a month to 20%, while Fianna Fail is up five to 32% at the outset of the election.

The dramatic poll result, probably influenced by the row earlier this month over the planned commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), suggests there was a 12-point gap between the two biggest parties just as the taoiseach asked President Michael D Higgins to dissolve the Dail early last week.

Paschal Donohoe, the finance minister, yesterday claimed Fine Gael knew it would be coming into the campaign as “underdogs”, because the last government that served three terms in office “blew up the economy” in its effort to