ENDA KENNY HAS lashed out at Sinn Féin in the wake of a new opinion poll showing the party level with Fine Gael.

This morning’s Ipsos MRBI poll for the Irish Times puts Sinn Féin on 24 per cent support (up four), level with Fine Gael who are unchanged from the last poll in May.

This prompted Kenny to continue his attacks on Sinn Féin’s pre-Budget submission. In the Dáil yesterday, Kenny said that Sinn Féin’s proposals would “close down the country” and result in 73 per cent cumulative tax rate on workers.

He also claimed that the party’s proposals to abolish water charges would leave a €550 million hole in the exchequer which he said Sinn Féin could not account for.

Speaking to reporters in Mayo today, Kenny said: ”You can’t have situation where a party suddenly says you don’t have to pay for water, you don’t have to pay for property, you don’t have to pay for anything except charge 78 per cent tax.

“So like people need to reflect very carefully on some of the commitments and promises that are being made here that are completely unachievable.”

But in a statement responding to the Taoiseach’s comments today, the Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said that Kenny’s figures “have no basis in reality”.

He explained: “Sinn Fein has consistently called for an extra 7 per cent only on income over €100,000.

“This would increase the tax applied to income over €100,000 from 52 per cent to 59 per cent yet Enda Kenny has somehow come up with a figure of 73 per cent. This is nonsense.”