The Tánaiste says the coalition may have to rely on the support of independent senators in order to make sure it has a majority after the next election.

Joan Burton has openly said that deals may be needed with independent senators in order for the Fine Gael-Labour coalition to retain power.

"I would have thought it may well be so," she said, when asked if such support would be needed, "but I think it's very manageable." 

The Tánaiste added that the current Seanad arithmetic - in which the government occasionally relies on independents to get measures passed - sometimes resulted in improvements to legislation as a result.

A preliminary analysis by Today FM suggests the coalition would fall short of an overall majority in the Seanad based on current polls.

If the current opinion polls for the Dáil were to bear fruit, the 43 seats in the Seanad's vocational panels would then be distributed with 15 seats to each of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, nine to Sinn Féin and four to Labour.

This would mean that even with all 11 of the Taoiseach's nominees supporting the government, the support of one other member would be needed - requiring the government to win more seats through the University panels, or to strike deals with independent members.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly has been crunching the numbers: