GE2024 IT’S JUST OVER one week of the election campaign, so how’s it all going?
Well, we’ve had an unexpected controversy involving Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, an argy bargy between coalition colleagues on TV, a war of words between those interested in justice, not to mention the disagreements over VAT and drug policies.
There’s been canvasses galore, up and down the country, with a few heated moments.
And how could we forget, but two new surprise entrants to the race.
One in the form of someone who has walked the halls of Leinster House before, and another who flew into the country to file his papers.
All in all, a busy week.
The week was rounded out by a poll in The Irish Times yesterday which will be welcomed by those in Fine Gael as it shows that the party is on course to be the largest party in the next Dáil, if all goes to plan for them.
The latest Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll has suggested that Simon Harris’s party is on 25%, ahead of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin who are both on 19%.
Fine Gael has lost support by two percentage points and Sinn Féin is down by one. Fianna Fáil is unchanged.
Interestingly, the wind seems to be at the back of Independents, with the poll seeing a rise in their support.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil seem preoccupied with taking chunks out of each other this week, with Sinn Féin seemingly getting a hall pass by the two government parties for now.
Will they pivot and start upping the criticisms of the largest opposition party next week?
We’ll have to wait and see, but certainly, the two coalition partners will have to kiss and make up sometime if they plan to sell it to voters that they think they should both go back into government together.
Nothing is a certainty, it’s all still to play for with another two weeks to go, that’s for sure.
So how do parties think it is all going and what should we look out for next week?
Sources in Fianna Fáil say Micheál Martin will continue his tour of the constituencies, and will be setting out why people should vote for his party.
They said they’ll also be responding and assessing the other manifestos when published, particularly their costings. This comes after Fine Gael took aim at Fianna Fáil’s costings this week.
“We’ll be looking to see if they include all of what they have promised already,” said one Fianna Fáil source.
The Fine Gael manifesto is being launched tomorrow, the same day as the Labour Party.
Fianna Fáil will also be setting out their stall on housing, climate, childcare and education next week.
One party source said they are having a good campaign on the ground, but said people have not tuned in yet to the election with all the other news of late, so the party is choosing to concentrate on outlining its manifesto plans over the last week.
Fine Gael sources say all the attention is now turned to their manifesto launch tomorrow.
The feeling within the party is the campaign has been going very well, stating that across the country, people can see Fine Gael has a new team to overcome future challenges and issues.
They told The Journal that the Taoiseach has visited 23 constituencies since last Friday.
“We are happy with the team performances. Paschal Donohoe is leading on the economy and finances, Hildegarde Naughton and Helen McEntee have had some strong performances in the last two days on broadcast media and at party policy launches,” they said.
“The candidates are getting the Simon Harris message that while social media is great, to get elected you absolutely have to knock on doors and wear out the shoe leather. Social media doesn’t get you elected. We have internal research that those canvassed in June’s Local and European elections remember being canvassed,” they added.
“The issues on the doors are cost of the living, housing, migration but since the Trump election, the future of our economy, jobs and livelihoods are starting to come strongly into people’s focus.”
And what about Sinn Féin? While the party was embroiled in controversies prior to the election campaign kicking off, those in the party said it is not coming up on the canvasses.
They said feedback on the doorsteps and events has been great, stating that there is a sense that this is a critically important election.
“People are raising housing, rent hikes, childcare, and a range of cost of living issues with us. There is a clear anger with the government and particularly on the waste of government spending examples that have been revealed recently,” said one party source.
Lots more to come, it feels like things are only getting started.
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