A top government minister has admitted that if an election were held right now his party, Fianna Fail, would be “hammered.”

Foreign Minister Micheal Martin was speaking after the poll in the Sunday Business Post showed support for the government at just 24 per cent.

The poll was taken just after a new survey showed the economy has shrunk by almost 25 per cent since its height.

Opposition Party Fine Gael is set to capitalize at 35 per cent with the Labor Party at 17 per cent.

Sinn Fein are at ten per cent, continuing a recent rise, and the Greens are at 5 per cent.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s popularity has been on a slide too, with only 27 per cent saying he has made a good leader.

Two thirds of those polled say they do not believe he can lead Ireland out of a recession.

Opposition spokeswoman Joan Burton of the Labor Party has said that the Irish economy has "fallen of a cliff."