A new poll, carried out during a tumultuous week in Europe, shows that the Government parties Fine Gael and the Labour Party are suffering in the popularity stakes after a year of implementing austerity measures.

The poll carried out by the Irish Independent / Millward Brown Landsowne shows that Eamon Gilmore’s Labour Party’s popularity had dropped to 15 percent from 18 per cent. According to the Belfast Telegraph, results show the Fine Gael party at 34 percent, down by two percent since the general election.

Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein are both on 17 percent and the Independents stand at 18 percent.

Satisfaction with the Coalition Government is at 29 percent, with 65 percent dissatisfied and five percent marked down as “don’t knows."

The Irish people are only 42 percent satisfied with the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny with 52 percent dissatisfied. Fianna Fail’s leader Micheal Martin received a 37 percent rating with 50 percent dissatisfied.

Gerry Adams, the leader of the Sinn Fein party, received a rating of 35 percent with 51 percent dissatisfied. Labour leader Eamon Gilmore received a satisfaction rating of 33 percent and a dissatisfaction level of 56 percent.

Fine Gael remains the most popular party and despite the sharp fall in popularity of the Labour Party the drop is understandable given the year of austerity measures the Coalition Government has put in place.

The poll did identify a worrying trend for Labour. One-in-four of their voters from the 2011 general election have now “gone to Sinn Fein or Independents."

The poll concludes: “Labour is currently the most vulnerable of the major parties to such losses.”