Ratings for both approval of Leo Varadkar and satisfaction with the government as a whole have remained below 40% in the latest Behaviour & Attitudes poll for The Sunday Times. The gap between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail stays at four percentage points.

The score for satisfaction with the taoiseach dropped 10 points to 38% in January — a new low for Varadkar — and it recovered by just a single point in the latest poll, over the course of a month when nurses and ambulance crews went on strike and government ministers struggled to explain the overrun in the cost of the national children’s hospital.

The poll finds Varadkar’s personal popularity rating at 39%, down from an all-time high of 59%, and reflecting disillusionment