Rugby fans were tackled by an army of young canvassers On 25 February, Irish voters go to the polls to choose a new government. Our Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson is covering the election with a diary of the final ten days of the campaign.
Monday 14 FebruaryThere is no escape from the Irish election, even at an international rugby match in Dublin. Fine Gael – the party expected to top the poll in next week’s election – sent an army of young volunteers to tackle fans arriving at Sunday’s Ireland-France Six Nations game. It all went well, apart from some wasted canvassing of inebriated Frenchmen who faked Irish accents and pretended to be interested in the election.Not dropping the ball will be the name of the game in tonight’s first five-way TV election debate involving the party leaders. Much attention will focus on Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams who has previously mishandled some economic questions.It seems some Irish people have had enough of the election already. One south Dublin house has pinned a sign to its front door: “No canvassers here, for health and safety reasons. My health – your safety.”
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen called early elections more than a year before his term was due to expire because of a political crisis triggered by last November’s bail-out by the IMF and EU worth 85bn euros ($113bn; £72bn).
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