Immigration is now the second most important topic amongst Irish voters.

A new poll shows over a third of people would consider voting for candidates with anti-immigrant views.

With local and European elections looming - the issue of immigration is growing in the minds of the voting public.

A new Sunday Independent / Ireland Thinks poll shows it's now the second most important priority for voters at 33%, behind housing at 50%.

This represents an increase of seven points since December and more than double what it was in September 2021.

Anti-immigrant sentiment is also becoming more acceptable to voters, with 35% of those surveyed saying they would consider voting for a candidate or party with strong anti-immigration views.

In the state of the parties, Sinn Féin’s one point drop to 29% is replicated by Fine Gael which is also down one point to 19%.

One significant development is support for Independents and Others at 18%, has now overtaken Fianna Fáil at 17%.

The Social Democrats are unchanged on 55, Labour is up one to 4%, while the Greens, Solidarity-People Before Profit and Aontú are all unchanged on 3%.

The poll was taken on Thursday and Friday of this week among a sample size of 1,394 people.