Support for Fianna Fáil has jumped by five points since the beginning of the year and it has joined Fine Gael as the largest party in the State with both now commanding the backing of 26 per cent of the electorate, according to a poll to be published tomorrow.

The Red C opinion poll, in today's Sunday Business Post, shows that for the first time in more than five years Fine Gael is not the most popular party in the country .

It has seen its support fall by 2 per cent to 26 points since the start of the year while Fianna Fáil has seen its support jump to the same level, up from the 21 per cent it was on last January.

The poll, which was conducted by Red C among over 1,000 voters on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday shows that support for Labour is static at 11 per cent while support for Sinn Féin currently stands at 16 per cent, compared with the 19 per cent the Sunday Business Post reported at the beginning of the year.

Independents and ‘others’ are up one point to 21 per cent.