Sinn Féin councillor Mr Martin Ferris is poised to top the poll in the Kerry North constituency according to a poll commissioned by the Kerrymannewspaper.
The poll gave Mr Ferris 30 per cent of the vote and predicted Fianna Fáil would lose its seat in the constituency.
Former Labour leader, Mr Dick Spring, is forecast to take the second seat with Fine Gael’s Mr James Deenihan nudging out Fianna Fáil’s Mr Tom McEllistrim for the third and last seat.
The poll is seen as a blow to Fianna Fáil who hope to deny Sinn Féin a seat.
The findings are further evidence of Sinn Féin's growing support in the Republic and will come as pre-election boost for the party who predicted on Monday it would get three seats in the Election.
Mr Ferris was arrested in March of this year as part of a Garda investigation into vigilante activities but later released without charge. He has alleged there is Garda campaign of harassment against him and his party in North Kerry.
In Dublin today Sinn Féin President Mr Gerry Adams criticised the main political parties for reducing the election campaign into a lottery of public finances.
At the launch of the party's candidates for the General Election at the Mansion House, Mr Adams said it was time to get back to politics and the type of society that we want to create.
He said "What the election campaign has been about so far is about trying to baffle people with figures and projections . . . they have spent the last six days talking to the movers and shakers in Irish society, to those who are well off and who they think will vote for them on the basis of the price is right."
But he warned voters to judge parties on the work that they have done.
Addressing his party’s objectives, Mr Adams said: "On this, May Day, we want to put James Connolly's vision on the political agenda."
