LAST UPDATE | 8 Nov
AND SO IT begins. With Taoiseach Simon Harris set to formally dissolve the 33rd Dáil this afternoon, political parties have begun what will be a gruelling three week campaign.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin spoke to reporters near Merrion Square in Dublin this afternoon, flanked by election hopefuls and party members. Nearby, a car with his face painted across the side stood on standby.
The Cork South-Central TD was a man in a hurry, taking only a handful of questions from the large group of reporters gathered.
He was definitive in what he had to say though: Fianna Fáil will not be going into any coalition with Sinn Féin.
“We’ve ruled out government with Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin has ruled out government with Fianna Fáil, and we’re very clear that our economy, they don’t get the economic model,” Martin said.
Sinn Féin has however not yet definitively ruled out a coalition with Martin’s party. Mary Lou McDonald’s longstanding position has been that Sinn Féin’s preference is for a government without either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
Speaking to reporters at her own campaign launch last night, McDonald said voters have an “historic choice” in this election, to choose a government without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
Martin’s pitch to voters is that Fianna Fáil is the safe, experienced pair of hands that the country needs.
He said globally the world is set to face significant challenges in the coming years and what Ireland needs over the next five years is leadership that has experience and that has “already demonstrated its capacity to weather significant events and shocks”.
He said Fianna Fáil understands the impact inflation has had on families and households and will “campaign to reduce prices”.
He also claimed that his party has been the “agent for change” on housing and said they have also engineered change in health but want to do more.
“Our campaign is about the future of Ireland, the future of our society, and we’re determined to invest in public services and to create a tax environment that will encourage and nurture enterprise and make us resilient against international turmoil.”
Elsewhere, party leaders and candidates have been spotted across the country this morning, pressing the flesh with commuters on the way to work.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik was out in Dublin Bay South this morning doing just that ahead of her party’s housing policy launch later in the morning.
At the launch, Labour promised to build 250,000 homes over five years, establish a State construction company and introduce new measures for renters.
They also pledged to bring back the no-fault eviction ban, introduce a rent freeze and phase out both the Help to Buy and First Homes schemes, replacing them with more targeted schemes.
Meanwhile, near Leinster House, a truck carrying a large billboard urging voters to vote for Sinn Féin was parked up just feet from where Micheál Martin was speaking to the press.
Across Dublin city centre, People Before Profit unveiled a 15 meter banner draped across the Hapenny Bridge.
It reads: “End 100 Years of FF/FG – Another Ireland is Possible”.
Simon Harris is set to speak to media shortly at Government Buildings before he heads to the Áras to formally ask the President to dissolve the Dáil. You can keep up with the latest via our Liveblog here.
Let the games begin.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say