Labour voters favour, by a two-to-one margin, a coalition with Fine Gael over one with Fianna Fail, according to the latest Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll.
Asked to choose between possible government combinations after the next general election, 55 per cent of the party's voters chose a coalition involving Fine Gael, with 27 per cent preferring coalition with Fianna Fail.
Some 34 per cent opted for a straight Fine Gael/Labour combination. A further 8 per cent chose a Fine Gael/Labour/Green Party line-up, 7 per cent went for Fine Gael/Labour/Progressive Democrats and 6 per cent favoured Fine Gael/Labour/Sinn Fein.
Fine Gael voters, meanwhile, strongly supported going into government with Labour. Some 43 per cent favoured a two-party coalition with a further 21 per cent choosing a combination with Labour and either the Green Party, the PDs or Sinn Fein.
The electorate in general is equally divided between four coalition options. The combinations of Fianna Fail/Fine Gael, Fianna Fail/Labour, Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats and Fine Gael/Labour each received 14 per cent support. A Fine Gael/Labour combination with either the Green Party, the PDs or Sinn Fein received the support of 4, 5 and 3 per cent respectively. The Fianna Fail/Sinn Fein option was favoured by 5 per cent.
A fifth of supporters of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael favoured a coalition between the two largest parties. Some 27 per cent expressed no preference between the options put to them.
Fianna Fail supporters preferred the continuation of the existing Fianna Fail/PD coalition, with 32 per cent choosing it. Some 25 per cent wanted the party to govern with Labour.
Progressive Democrat voters also favoured the continuation of the present coalition above other choices. Some 47 per cent preferred a Fianna Fail/PD coalition, with 26 per cent going for the other main possible option for the party: Fine Gael/Labour/PD.
The poll was conducted among a national quota sample of 1,000 voters at 100 sampling points throughout all constituencies between September 11th and September 22nd as part of an extensive political questionnaire.
House prices and health were chosen from nine issues as the most important for the next election, followed by the gap between rich and poor. The price of houses was selected as the most important issue by 25 per cent of voters, followed by health (23 per cent) and the gap between rich and poor (16 per cent).