A new political opinion poll has once again raised the possibility of a Fianna Fáil - Fine Gael coalition.

The Red C poll for the Sunday Business Post shows Fine Gael losing three points to stand on 25%, with Fianna Fáil down 2 to 18%. Support for Sinn Féin is unchanged, also at 18%.

Independents are up two to 25%, while Labour is up one point to 8%. The Social Democrats are at 2% after their first opinion poll, the same level as the Greens. Renua and People Before Profit are on 1% each.

The poll was taken between Monday and Wednesday of this week.

Political Editor of the Sunday Business Post Pat Leahy says if the results were to be repeated on election day, there could be only one stable Government possible:

Last week, a poll in the Sunday Times showed that Independents made gains at the expense of their larger rivals.

31% of voters said they would vote Independent - up five points in the last month - while support for most other parties has fallen.

Labour are down 1 point to 8%, Fianna Fáil down three points to 18, Sinn Féín lose two points to stand on 17, and the Greens are down one to 1%.

The only party not to lose support at the time was Fine Gael - which remained on 24%, failing to regain the ground it lost over the SiteServ controversy.