Support for Sinn Féin has climbed by five per cent in the latest Red C opinion poll, published in the Sunday Business Post.
It more than makes up for the four points the party lost a month ago, after allegations of an IRA cover-up of the abuse of Paudie McGahon.
Sinn Féin now boasts 22 per cent support, just three behind Fine Gael at 25 per cent.
Both government parties took a hit of two points, leaving Labour with support at just 8 per cent.
The Fianna Fáil leader says his party offers choice to voters at the next general election saying they understand the mistakes of the past and the realities of Ireland today.
Addressing the party's Ard Fheis in Dublin last night Micheál Martin accused the coalition of being obsessed with trying to buy re-election.
But he says the offer from Sinn Féin is even worse - as they promise everything to everybody.
SIPTU says it's disappointed with the publication of a HIQA report into St. Anne's Centre for people with intellectual disabilities in Roscrea, County Tipperary.
The Health Information and Quality Authority has carried out a number of inspections and has raised concerns about the services at residential facility for people with disabilities.
The authority says residents were not treated with dignity during an unannounced inspection.
More than 1,000 protesters have marched in Baltimore over the death of a black man in police custody a week ago.
A minority of protesters smashed police car windows and at least a dozen were arrested, after disturbances that led police to delay spectators' departure from a baseball game.
25 year old Freddie Gray was arrested by police on the 12th of April and then suffered spinal injuries leading to death a week later.
Aid agencies in Ukraine say instability in the region is threatening efforts to make the Chernobyl power plant safe for the next 100 years.
Today is the 29th anniversary of the world's worst ever nuclear accident, which affected the lives of more than seven million people.
Adi Roche, voluntary chief executive of Chernobyl Children International, visited the site in recent weeks.
