Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said her party’s surge in opinion polls is reflective of an “energy and momentum” on the ground.

On Sunday, she set out her priorities for Sinn Féin’s potential participation in government at a press conference in Dublin.

It came as a Red C poll showed her party pulling level with Fianna Fáil, with both on 24 per cent, and ahead of Fine Gael, which was on 21 per cent.

The Greens were down 1 per cent to 7 per cent, Labour were up 1 per cent to 5 per cent, Social Democrats remained unchanged at 3 per cent, Aontú were up 1 per cent to 2 per cent, Solidarity-People Before Profit were down 1 per cent to 1 per cent and Independents were down 2 per cent to 12 per cent.

Reacting to the poll, Ms McDonald said it was “reflective of an energy and a momentum for Sinn Féin and for change”.

The Dublin Central TD said her first preference was to form a government “without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael”.

“The best possible outcome from this election is a government without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. The worst outcome for us is a government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael working together.”

She asked people to “vote for change and transfer for change”.

When asked if it is possible to form a governing coalition of the left, she said: “I think we need to be steady on these matters and not get ahead of ourselves.” However, she said Sinn Féin would talk to all comers - including People Before Profit, the Greens, Labour, the Social Democrats, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and others - on a future government.

Responding to the poll, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Fine Gael was the real party of change, and he claimed there were “a lot of backwoodsmen in Fianna Fáil” who were opposed to “social progress”.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Athlone on Sunday, he said: “Other parties talk about change, but we are the ones who have been driving it though.

“If we have a Fianna Fáil-led government, I have no doubt that the social progress that we’ve seen in recent years will not continue. There are a lot of backwoodsmen in Fianna Fáil who will slow down social progress. Those referendums would not have happened had Fianna Fáil been in office.

“And also with Sinn Féin, I think we would see a slowdown in our economic progress, and in particular a slowdown in housebuilding as investors take fright at Sinn Féin’s €4 billion tax plan.”

He said that fewer houses would be built as a result and “there wasn’t anybody who would lose out more from that than people who were renting and people who want to buy”.

Mr Varadkar said Fine Gael could certainly close the gap with the others parties by election day. He said there was “a real and growing risk” that the next government would be led by either Fianna Fáil or by Sinn Féin, “or maybe even the two of them together – the double trouble option”.

He reiterated his belief that Sinn Féin “is not a normal party”, but also accused Fianna Fáil of trying to introduce “class politics” into Irish elections, and said that middle income people deserved tax cuts too.

However, he said he had no objection to Ms McDonald taking part in a scheduled RTÉ debate between himself and the Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin on Tuesday night, but that it was a matter for the broadcaster. It would be “useful to take such an opportunity to scrutinise Sinn Féin’s policies a little bit more”, he added.

Future taoiseach debate

Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the format of the RTÉ broadcast should be rethought in the wake of the latest poll. “They need to change their decision on excluding Mary Lou form the leaders’ debate.”

Mr Varadkar and Mr Martin were selected to go head to head in the RTÉ debate as the two most likely individuals to become the next taoiseach.

Sinn Féin is running just 42 candidates in the general election, seen as ruling the leader out of contention for taoiseach.

Mr Doherty met with a member of RTÉ’s election steering group on Sunday to make his party’s case. A full meeting of the steering group will take place on Monday when a decision will be made.

The criteria on which RTÉ bases its decisions is substantially weighted towards electoral performance in the last general election, as well as in local and European elections. Although opinion polls are taken into account, they are not afforded as much importance.

An RTÉ statement said: “At the outset of the election RTÉ set out its approach to leaders debates based on empirical data. That has not changed. “Throughout the campaign RTÉ has considered representations made by those contesting the election regarding our coverage and leaders debates. We will continue to give consideration to any representation made.”

Minister of Finance Paschal Donohoe said the latest poll showed an appetite for change. “But I would urge voters to consider is this change real, is the change true and is it safe and that I think is the real question for next week - safe for our economy and safe for income and jobs.”

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath said, of the party’s arrangement with Fine Gael, that “I think people understand why we did what we did. Confidence and supply for us was awkward, difficult, it was frustrating at times.”

He said that “we were the party that ensure that in the teeth of the Brexit crisis we did not have political instability here, that we did not go from one election to another”.

The Cork South-Central TD said there was a “strong mood for change and Fianna Fáil is the best placed to lead and deliver that change - meaningful, real change that we can stand over and deliver.”.

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall, said an alternative government was a possibility because Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil got less than 50 per cent of the vote in the last general election.

Ms Shortall, who has previously said that parties of the left need to work together to form an alternative to the civil war politics of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, said people are fed up with the two largest parties. “they’ve had their chance and people realise that the country can do much better”.

Speaking at the press conference in Dublin on Sunday morning, Ms McDonald said Sinn Féin’s priorities were to reduce and freeze rents; bring the State pension age back to 65; introduce the biggest public housing programme in the history of the State; open more hospital beds; abolish the Universal Social Charge on earnings under €30,000; end the “insurance rip off”; support carers and people with disabilities, and “plan for a referendum on Irish unity”.