THIS TIME NEXT week we are likely to know whether it is Barack Obama who will be the US president for the next four years or whether his Republican challenger Mitt Romney is president-elect.

The US election is closely watched around the world and that is no different here in Ireland where most people will at least have an interest in finding out who comes out on top in the 6 November poll.  But does it matter for Ireland who is the president of the United States for the next four years?

There’s little doubt Ireland is more disposed to a Democratic president than to a Republican if the reception for Obama on his visit to Dublin last year is anything to go by. But writing for TheJournal.ie last week David Cronin argued that it makes little difference whether it is a Republican or a Democrat who occupies the Oval Office as their foreign policies are largely the same.

So today, we want to know: Do you think the outcome of the US election matters for Ireland?

Column: Europeans saying Obama has to win? It makes me want to scream

Read: 8 things we’re really missing from the 2012 US Presidential Election