The Health Minister says he does not see any reason why Enda Kenny would agree to debate Micheál Martin - who he described as 'the leader of a third party'.

The Fianna Fáil leader had challenged the Taoiseach to a one-on-one debate - after accusing Enda Kenny of "hiding" behind advisors and set piece media events.

Micheál Martin was the target of criticism a number of times at Fine Gael's party conference over the weekend.

Minister Leo Varadkar says there would be no point in a TV debate between the Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader:

"At least twice in the last week, Enda Kenny has launched a series of tired, inaccurate and clichéd attacks on my party," Mr Martin said at the weekend.

"All of this is standard FG fare and no more than we have come to expect from a party that has no vision of its own and no message other than negative attacks on others."

"Mr Kenny's time as Taoiseach has been marked by his continued refusal to engage in open, honest debate on any of these issues. He now appears to hope that he can secure another term in that office by launching unsubstantiated attacks on his opponents."

"I stand ready to meet the Taoiseach in open debate at any time, but I am not optimistic," Mr Martin added.

The comments came after a new opinion poll brought mixed news for the coalition. The RED C survey in the Sunday Business Post showed support for Fine Gael unchanged on 24%.

However the Labour Party dropped two points in popularity to 7%.

But there was also bad news for Fianna Fáil, who fell one point to 18. Sinn Féin was up one to 21 and Independents and other rose two points to 30%.

Originally published at 10.52am