The latest news on the Irish General Election

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An Aran Islands campaigner wants off-sea votes to be cast on the same day as the rest of the country – after again claiming he is treated as a second class citizen when it comes to election time.

Seamus ‘Jamesie’ O Flatharta is confident his bid to allow the islanders off the west and south Coasts vote at the same time will finally come to fruition after the 2011 election.

The 2,500 islanders cast their votes on Wednesday and Thursday but O Flaharta wants to be treated the same as everyone else within the 3.2million electorate.

“I’m a second-class citizen. It’s as simple as that,” he told the Irish Independent.

“I’ve been on about this for years and it’s a disgrace. Middle-aged men in Dublin are telling me I should vote on a different day to almost everyone else in the country.

“Anything could happen in the time between me voting and the rest of the country and I might want to change my mind. It’s all right for people on the mainland.

“It is my wish that before I’m laid to rest, I will see it change.”

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The political hacks, those who have spent the last three weeks on the campaign trail, have a sweep going on the outcome of this General Election according to Deaglan de Breadun of the Irish Times.

Mindful of the current economic recession, the various journos have laid just five Euro a head on the make-up of the next Dail.

According to the Irish Times columnist, the political press expect Fine Gael to end up with just over 80 seats and lead the next government.

De Breadun’s own predictions are FG- 82; Lab -35; FF – 25 (including Ceann Comhairle); SF – 12; GP – O; Independent/Others: 12.

Interestingly, de Breadun’s predictions would allow Fine Gael to lead a single-party government with the support of Independents and, crucially, without Labour as coalition partners.

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Even the RubberBandits are getting on the election vibe as they prepare to take the country’s music charts by storm again.

Fresh from the incredible success of their YouTube sensation ‘Horse Outside’, the Limerick funksters have just released their second single.

‘I Want To Fight Your Father’ is described as a good, old fashioned Limerick love song by the plastic bag duo.

And speaking to 3,000 students at Dublin’s Bolton Street college on the eve of the election, they too jumped on the political bandwagon.

“This ditty is designed to show love conquers all in these turbulent electoral times,” said the Bandits.
We’ll wait and see if it does but they do have more chance of topping the polls than most candidates in this election.

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God bless the trier – Green Party leader John Gormley went to the polls on Friday convinced that the outgoing junior government party have a role to play in the new Dail.

The opinion polls state otherwise and Gormley faces a major battle to hold onto his seat but he did try to sound optimistic ahead of polling.

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Nster.com