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Election Bites: Making a song and dance of it

The all-singing, all-dancing election fun continues
The all-singing, all-dancing election fun continues

Jigs and Reels


Election Factor

You could call it the bandwagon that only the bravest political hopefuls jump on. We're of course talking about the Irish election song.

At least four candidates have released campaign songs - but are they in tune with their constituents?


Enda who?

Google has released its most searched for election-related questions, and the results won't make for easy reading for some politicians.

Rather ominously for Labour, the top searched for question referencing the party is: "Is the Labour Party dead?"' Meanwhile, "Who is Enda Kenny?' is one of the top questions asked about the Taoiseach, according to data released by the search engine.


One Down


Fancy seeing you here...

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams bumped into each other on the campaign trail in Sligo.

They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries as Gaeilge before heading their respective ways. 


Martin remains mum

Paschal Sheehy did his best to get a straight answer out of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin on possible government formations.



It's only words


All about that space

The election campaign is only a week old. And like all newborns it is noisy and messy and not yet making much sense.

Much of the initial wailing has been about the vexed question of the fiscal space.


Just another day?

Governments have fiddled around with the voting day over the last 20 years, veering from the traditional Thursday to Friday and back again. Friday, it was argued, suits those going "home" for the weekend, where they are registered and should serve to make it easier for many young people away at college to vote.

There is no obvious sign that this has made any difference, although in the absence of much real data on who votes and who does not, it is not easy to know.

What would happen if we held an election and everyone came?


Election Snapshots


First Preference


Sound Bite