Political parties have been out in force on the eve of the General Election.
With opinion polls suggesting the contest is too tight to call, leaders and candidates have been busy making their final pitches to potential voters.
Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris urged people to transfer to other “centrist parties” when casting their vote tomorrow.
Speaking on the final day of the campaign trail, he said that while he hopes voters will give his party their first preference, he is also asking people to consider parties that are similarly aligned.
“I’d ask people to think when they vote about how we’re going to try to form a Government after this election,” he said.
“The country will need a Government, the country will need a stable Government, and I hope the country will be in a position to have a Government in place in a relatively short period of time.”
He said Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and Labour had previously played “constructive roles” alongside Fine Gael.
He also told Newstalk this morning that while his party was running in this election to lead the next Government, that Government is likely to be a coalition with three parties.
He said a Government that is bigger than that becomes hard to manage in terms of a coherent policy base.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik criticised the comments made by Mr Harris and appealed to the public to vote for “radical” change and “centre-left” parties.
Speaking about the comments, Ms Bacik said: “I saw the Taoiseach’s comments today and frankly I think they smacked of desperation in the last few days of his campaign.”
Ms Bacik said there was an “appetite for Labour’s positive message of constructive change” among the electorate and said she was the only leader of a left party that had set out “a clear vision”.
She said she anticipates an increase in the number of Labour TDs returning to the next Dail.
Elsewhere, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he believes transfers will be “crucial”.
Speaking from Greystones in Co Wicklow, Mr Martin said the campaign is “very competitive” and “fragmented” with “lots of candidates in every constituency”.
“I think we’ll have a long Sunday, Saturday and Sunday, and I’m very conscious of 2020 and how long some of those counts were,” he said, adding that he has been advising his party’s candidates to campaign for the second, third and fourth votes also.
“They’re going to be crucial in terms of the destination of final seats constituencies across the country.”
He said he has been consistent in this campaign that he will not go into government with Sinn Féin. When asked if that was his opinion or the opinion of Fianna Fáil, he said: “It’s the party, very clearly.”
The leader of the Green Party has urged voters to “stick with” them when they go to the polls tomorrow.
At the party’s final election press conference this morning, Roderic O’Gorman also pointed to what the Greens had done in government over the past four-and-a-half years.
“Our final message to voters is stick with us. Our priority has always been about acting now to build a better future for you, for your family, for your children, and we’re asking for another mandate to continue that work in the next Dáil,” he said.
“We end this term of Government with an undeniably strong track record of delivering … we’ve halved the cost of childcare, transport is better; it’s widely available, it’s cheaper.
“Critically, we’ve brought down our carbon emissions. They are now at their lowest [level] in 30 years and the Greens in Government have broken that tradition in Ireland that the smaller party is always overwhelmed by the agendas of the larger coalition parties.”
The leader of Sinn Féin has called on people to lend their vote to her party.
During her final press conference of the campaign, Mary Lou McDonald said she felt momentum was behind Sinn Féin and she asked people to also vote for “like minded parties” such as the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and left-wing Independents.
She told reporters that she was feeling “very confident” ahead of polling day, adding that while it was too early to talk about possible coalition partners, she was not “making eyes” at anyone.
This evening, Ms McDonald will attend the turning on of the Christmas tree lights in Ballybough, in her own constituency, and will also go to a bingo session in Cabra.
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Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said the reason this election campaign has not grabbed the public’s attention is because the three main parties have not presented a convincing vision.
At her party’s final conference in Dublin this morning, she said the public wants change and Labour will deliver.
“What’s really coming through is that appetite for change, people want something different, that active State, these are the issues people want to see change,” she said.
“It [the general election] hasn’t caught fire because none of the three biggest parties are offering a convincing vision of change.
“And that’s what we’re hearing on doors. People want change but they’re not convinced by the policies on offer by the three biggest parties.”
People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett has urged other parties not to make the “mistake of the past” by propping up Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government.
Speaking at the party’s final press conference this morning, Mr Boyd Barrett reiterated that the electorate has a “historic opportunity” when they head to the polls tomorrow.
“Another Ireland is possible. The first left government in the history of the State is possible but don’t make the mistake of propping up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael again because that will destroy this historic opportunity for change,” he said.
Elsewhere, Social Democrats Dublin Central candidate Gary Gannon held his final engagement with the media on the capital’s O’Connell Street this afternoon.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín spent has spent his final day on the campaign trail canvassing in Dublin West and highlighting his parties cost of living policies.
Mr Tóibín said his party’s cost of living policies include a new scheme to ensure mothers and their children have access to fresh food, milk and vitamins until their children are four years old.
He also said Aontú has helped to highlight public spending waste issues in recent months, and that in his view his party will be “challenging the government for seats in at least 10 constituencies”.
Independent candidates will also be making one last push across the country on what is the final campaign day.
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Reporting by Fiachra Ó Cionnaith, Paul Cunningham, Tommy Meskill, Marc O’Driscoll, Evelyn O’Rourke, PA
