As Sinn Féin faces another drop in the polls, there is a question of whether the party of change is offering the change people want. 

While it remains the most popular party, the latest Business Post/Red C poll saw Sinn Féin drop by four points to 23%. 

The main opposition party is now only one point ahead of Fine Gael, who saw a two-point rise to 22%. 

Fianna Fáil and the Green Party also saw a one-point rise each to 15% and 4% respectively. 

News reporter Gráinne Ní Aodha said, like other parties, Sinn Féin has struggled to develop a clear policy on immigration, one of the most important issues to voters. 

“The Government feels like they need to act, but they don’t want to feed into that far-right line,” she told The Anton Savage Show. 

“It’s easier to say in Government, ‘We’re doing a policy here, we’re a policy here’, than to be in opposition and say, ‘You should be doing this’.” 

'The voters all had different ideas'

While it’s a gift of the opposition to make grand promises, Sinn Féin isn’t clear on what they should promise. 

“I will say as well, [when] Sinn Féin had that historic election, everyone has known that the voters were voting for change,” Ms Ní Aodha said. 

“Those voters all had a different idea of what change was. 

“As the years have gone on, and Sinn Féin has articulated the point, voters have said, ‘Well, actually that wasn’t my idea of change’. 

“There is a bit of splintering that I think everyone knew was inevitable.” 

Sinn Féin failing to mobilise

People Before Profit (PBP) TD Bríd Smith also noted that Sinn Féin has failed to “mobilise” people to prove they can enact policies. 

Deputy Smith noted she and other PBP members led a housing protest yesterday that Sinn Féin did not attend. 

“They're paying the price of that because if you're not mobilizing people, on the issue that most concerns them – which is housing – then the other issue is used to target away people's attention. 

“[It’s] very sinister by certain groups who are trying to gain momentum on the far-right, the question of migration. 

“I think the mobilisation of people power would have been a really important part of Sinn Féin maintaining their lead and it just dropped.” 

Independent candidates are among the most successful polled at 19%, while the Social Democrats dropped by one point to 5%. 

The Labour Party and PBP both saw a one-point increase to 4% and 3% respectively.