Ireland's presidential election is entering its final phase with the star of the Irish version of Dragons' Den far ahead in the opinion polls as the candidates prepare for the final live televised debate on Monday night.
The businessman Seán Gallagher has 40% of first preference votes, according to an Ipsos MRBI poll published in the Irish Times.
His nearest rival, the Irish Labour party candidate Michael D Higgins, is on 25%. They are the only two candidates to have increased support in the polls.
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has lost four percentage points and is now on 15% following a series of attacks on his role within the IRA during the Troubles.
The gay rights campaigner and Trinity College Dublin academic David Norris now appears to be out of the race with his support falling to just 8%.
All the candidates are preparing for a live television debate on RTÉ's Frontline programme later on Monday as well as an online debate hosted by Google.
Voters on remote islands off the coast of Ireland's western seaboard will be the first to vote in the election and in two parallel referendums on giving more scrutiny powers to the Irish parliament and to cut judges' pay.
The islanders will cast their votes as part of the Donegal South-West constituency before the rest of the republic so bad weather does not hinder the return of ballot boxes in time to be counted with the rest of the country on Friday. A total of 937 people are entitled to vote on the islands and the largest electorate of almost 700 is registered on the biggest island, Arranmore. The smallest electorate is on Inishfree, where eight voters are registered.
