Morning Ireland's Cian McCormack has been travelling around the country this past week to see what is concerning voters ahead of Polling Day.
Just after 7am I pushed my batteries in to the back of my recorder securing them with gaffer tape.
As I did, Damien Houlihan walked over Sarsfield Bridge towards me.
He looked familiar - middle aged, dressed for work, walking with pace and purpose.
To his left a steady stream of cars, lights on and in a morning jam, rolled slowly towards Limerick city centre.
To Mr Houlihan's right a menacingly low fog hovered over the River Shannon - so dense the 17-storey Clayton Hotel was smudged on to the horizon behind the Shannon Bridge.
As my recorder lit up, Mr Houlihan drew closer. The closer he got brought forward his familiarity.
"How're ya doing? My name is Cian McCormack. I’m with Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1," I said, introducing myself.
"I was talking to you before," he replied.
Damien was right.
Coincidentally, the first man I had stopped to ask about voters’ views for General Election 2024 was the same person - Mr Houlihan - I had stopped prior to June’s local and European elections.
Tasked with learning about the voting public’s mood and assessing dominant pre-election issues I fired off my first question: "What are the [election] issues for someone like yourself?"
"We're just worried about money, mostly. The price of everything is rising, the wages aren't matching it," came Mr Houlihan’s response.
"I am earning less money now than it was 15 years ago and everything is quadruple probably. I'm just worried about money mostly," he added.
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"Is it all about money?" I asked. He replied that it is, but housing too is a massive issue.
From the first conversation for my Morning Ireland election series, the cost of living and housing were raised. They dominated most of my conversations with voters.
"I can't afford the college canteen. I can't afford a chicken fillet roll. I can't afford a coffee."
'Housing is absolutely atrocious'
Just as Damien Houlihan walked away from Sarsfield Bridge, a 23-year-old student, Jessica, walked towards it.
Again, cost of living and housing were her biggest issues.
"The cost of living is outrageous. I have a bag full of food just for the day that I have to carry around all day because I can't afford the college Canteen," Jessica said pointing illustratively at a green plastic shopping bag hanging heavily from her forearm.
"I can't afford to go get a chicken roll. I can't afford to go get coffee. And the housing is absolutely atrocious," she said.
Jessica added that she lives at home with her parents with her 25-year-old brother.
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"He's working two jobs. I'm working two jobs and I'm in full-time education," she said.
Those first two initial conversations were illuminating.
They revealed housing and the cost of living as to the fore in voters’ minds.
And while the same voters acknowledged the economy is good people aren’t feeling it in its entirety.
Also feeding into the wider frustration amongst voters in the midwest are overcrowding and services at University Hospital Limerick, homelessness, drugs and crime.
The mood in Limerick is mixed but it has an edge.
People said the economy is going well, they acknowledge there are more jobs, but in a second breath they’ll also exclaim clearly that they’re not feeling it.
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The same talking points continue in Galway West.
In Clifden, there is frustration over the ability of locals to get planning permission for one off housing - especially younger local people.
However, the mood is more positive there.
One man said: "I'd be happy with what we have. I wouldn't want to change", while a group of women said they "don't see anyone in want" in the town.
Another woman walking down Market Street said, "I think the country's better off" but added Government spending needs more "prudence".
The mood darkened travelling toward Galway and the city.
Two women in Oughterard said businesses have closed in the town and that a recent retirement of a local GP means both of them, and their families, have to travel kilometres for medical services.
In the city, it is traffic, housing and the cost of living that are, again, the main talking points.
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One man said traffic in the city is "nuts", while a woman in her 20s said it adds an extra five hours to her commute every week.
Their claims are backed up by the constant traffic jam behind them and a recent University of Galway study which showed commuters in the city are losing the equivalent of three-days per year sitting in traffic.
On top of that frustration others said the economy is going well but they are feeling the pinch of the cost of living.
Standing overlooking the Christmas market at Eyre Square a man in his 30s said his mood is "change".
He gave the Government recognition for energy credits and other measures but expressed frustration over the cost of living and housing.
"In fairness, I give them credit that when the cost of energy went up, the energy credits, that was a good thing," said the man.
Asked whether Budget 2025 and double payments for children's allowance were helpful and impact how he could vote he said "one could be a cynic" because such payments were happening before the elections.
"What happens next winter and the winter after that?" he said.
I'm 58 and I don't own a house, it's ridiculous
Another man aged 58 was disillusioned about voting and whether it can achieve solutions for his biggest challenge: Housing.
"I'm renting at the moment, so it's my big issue. It's a big issue to me and my family," he said and added he does not own a house.
"The price of everything has gone up and I’m just kind of feeling it's a lot more pressure," he said.
"I'm 58 years of age and I don't own a house, which is ridiculous because of the way things are in this country," he said.
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After a week on the road for Morning Ireland it's clear there is anger and frustration.
That's focused on the fallout from elevated living costs, housing and pressures on services.
But while some people are disgruntled, there are as many satisfied with the status quo.
A handful of people offered the word "change" when I asked how they could vote or what their mood is before marking their ballots. The majority however were not clear what they meant by "change".
Whatever way that manifests itself, if it does at all, won’t be known clearly until polling day.
Like the fog over the River Shannon, on the first day of my Morning Ireland series, there is a murky quality to the prevalent mood in the campaign’s first week. Whether it lifts is anyone's best guess.
