With less than two weeks before polling day, the presidential election candidates have been campaigning around the country this weekend.
Two new opinion polls published today show Séan Gallagher and Michael D Higgins pulling ahead of their rivals.
A Red C/Sunday Business Post poll shows Mr Gallagher leading for the first time. The poll shows support for the independent candidate rising 18 points to 39 per cent, 12 points ahead of Mr Higgins, who rose two points to 27 per cent.
Support for the remaining candidates has fallen away with all losing support, the poll shows. Martin McGuinness is down 3 points to 13 per cent while former favourite David Norris sees his support fall again to 7 per cent. Support for Mary Davis has slipped to 4 per cent while Dana Rosemary Scallon has just 2 per cent support.
The Red C poll was taken ahead of the controversial RTÉ Prime Time presidential debate last Wednesday.
Elsewhere, a Sunday Independent/Quantum Research poll carried on Sunday shows Mr Higgins continuing to lead the field with 36 per cent support. He is followed by Mr Gallagher on 29 per cent and Mr McGuinness on 13 per cent. David Norris is on 10 per cent while Fine Gael's candidate Gay Mitchell is on 6 per cent.
Independent candidates Mary Davis and Dana Rosemary Scallon have 4 per cent and 2 per cent support respectively.
The last Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, which was carried out earlier this month, also showed Mr Higgins and Mr Gallagher ahead of the other candidates
Michael D Higgins comfortably won over an audience of young people at the SpunOut.ie ‘Youth Rising’ forum in Dublin yesterday. Mr Mitchell and Ms Scallon did not attend the event.
Ms Scallon, who is campaigning in Co Donegal today, announced on Friday that she intended to stay in the campaign despite allegations against her brother John Brown emerging.
Ms Scallon’s sister, Susan Stein, has said she and her husband stand over the evidence he gave to a court in Iowa in 2008 that Dana’s brother, John Brown, had sexually abused the Steins’ daughter.
Ms Stein's daughter, Susan Gorrell, has said she is consulting her lawyers in relation to what was said by Ms Scallon in Wednesday's Prime Time debate, in which the presidential candidate referred to "vile and false" allegations that had been made against her brother.
Mr Higgins and Mr Mitchell are both be campaigning in south Dublin today while David Norris will be attending Naas Racecoure this afternoon. Mr Gallagher is in Cavan and Meath while Mr McGuinness is in Co Donegal.
