By common consensus last year's UK general election was one of the most boring ever. The campaign never really caught fire, writes RTÉ's political reporter Brian Dowling.
Now as we enter into the second half of our own General Election, it certainly looks to be well in contention for the prize of "the most boring ever".
At this rate of going, we can truly be thankful for one thing: it is one of the shortest election campaigns.
Even looking at politicians across the spectrum there is a real sense of weariness among many of them.
They know they have played out all the arguments so many times over the past few years and at a more intense level since last October.
Aside from this aspect, the micro-managing of campaigns and especially of party leaders' events all contribute to making it boring.
You expect the big parties to drive a campaign, take it by the scruff of the neck and knock a shape and pace into it.
Right now they seem consumed by fear, the fear of making a mistake or a serious gaffe.
Every big photo opportunity is carefully planned, visits to companies, community groups, etc are gamed to make sure your own people have a presence and the risk of any awkward moment is at least minimised.
It shouldn't be that way. Just look at what is at stake for the main parties.
Enda Kenny is bidding to become the first Fine Gael leader to be returned to office for two successive terms. He is bidding to protect and build on his political legacy of the past five years.
Joan Burton is in a battle to salvage as much of the Labour Party as possible along with her own political survival and a return is bound up in that.
Micheál Martin is vying to restore Fianna Fáil as a major political force with real prospects of returning to government.
Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin are closer than ever to becoming a much bigger force in the Dáil and a party that is edging towards government.
You would imagine these competing dynamics would conspire to produce a fiery, vibrant, energetic campaign.
Instead, there is the overly stage-managed events and an hourly conveyor belt supply of statements and counter statements by all the parties.
Take the TV3 leaders' debate which disintegrated into the four leaders shouting over each other.
No one could hear the point anyone was making. So no one could be offended by anything that anyone said.
Yet, even those moments when the exchanges were understandable somehow felt familiar. It was like a rerun of Leaders' Questions but in a new format.
Instead of firing the exchanges across the floor of the Dáil, they were being fired across the floor of a TV studio.
The politicians are not in campaign mode, they are in performance mode.
And as with Leaders' Questions, all the lines are rehearsed and scripted. There is little or no real emotional engagement and no real passion.
Is there any hope that something interesting might happen in the days ahead?
Right now, there is nothing that suggests the parties will change gear in a manner that really marks a decisive shift in the mood and tone of the campaign.
Pity, because no matter which side you come from there is a huge amount at stake.
