Fine Gael has rejected suggestions that it may have peaked too soon in the polls with over a week to go to election day.
A Millward Brown IMS poll today showed that the party has increased support by three points to 26 per cent and that Fianna Fáil dropped three points to 35 per cent.
Party enterprise spokesman Phil Hogan claimed that up to 57 seats could be achieved for Fine Gael with the current support rating and added that meticulous campaigning was paying dividends.
"It's good to peak sometimes especially when you haven't peaked for a while. The local elections in 2004 gave candidates a platform to build local and national profiles to win Dáil seats. We're seeing the fruits of hard work on the campaign trail," Mr Hogan said.
He was speaking at a Fine Gael briefing on cost-of-living increases with deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton. The party said it would work in government to bring down inflation to within EU average rates.
Cutting rising costs for householders and businesses would also be a priority for Fine Gael if it finds itself in government after the election, it said. The party said it would tackle the "rip-off" culture that had hit Irish consumers so hard over the last number of years.
Mr Bruton said that Ireland's inflation rate, at an annual average of 5.1 per cent in the first four months of this year, was at a new five-year high, marking a "new low" for the Government's record on competitiveness and the cost of living.
"Ireland is already the most expensive country using the euro and we are continuing to accelerate away from the rest - inflation here is the highest of all euro countries and more than double the average rate for other industrialised countries," Mr Bruton said.
He said although EU interest rate increases have played "a big role in the surge in inflation, runaway house prices and mortgage borrowing have compounded their effect on living costs here.
"But even excluding the impact of interest rates, prices here are increasing by 53 per cent quicker than in the rest of the euro area," Mr Bruton said.
He claimed the failure to provide an adequate supply of properly serviced and zoned land in suitable locations had led to escalating residential, commercial and industrial land prices, longer commuting times and knock-on effect on wage claims.
There had also been a failure to tackle "restrictive, anti-competitive" practices in a range of sectors, including energy, transport, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, he claimed.
Inadequate reform in the public sector had passed on higher wages and inefficiencies in the form of higher charges, taxes and rates, Mr Bruton added.
Additional reporting: PA