Friday’s election will be ‘closely fought race’ – Tanaiste

The Tanaiste has said Friday’s election will be a “closely fought race”, saying the next 48 hours will be “tough”.

Fianna Fail has gained support in the latest two opinion polls, alongside Sinn Fein, while Fine Gael has dropped two points.

Another opinion poll is set to be published late on Wednesday.

As he highlighted Fianna Fail’s manifesto policies in the final days of the campaign, Micheal Martin continued to rule out going into coalition with Sinn Fein.

Speaking the day after the leaders’ debate, Mr Martin said the election will be a “closely fought race”.

“It’s too close to call, I’m not predicting anything, and I think it would be far too premature to do so,” he told reporters on Wednesday.”

Asked whether he thinks government formation will be a lengthy process, Mr Martin responded: “It’s going to be very tight. Let’s be honest, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. There’s an election to be fought. A lot will depend on the outcome of the people’s decision on Friday, in terms of formation of government timelines and so forth.”

He added: “I do believe one of the key objectives or functions of a general election is to enable the creation of a government, and that government must have the capacity to be solid, coherent and to last four-and-a-half to five years.

“That will enable good decisions to be made, or at least better decisions than short-term decisions or decisions taken by a government that’s looking over its shoulder every week, every month.

“We need that kind of strength in the Dail, and that’s the issue that people need to weigh up in terms of decision making.”

Asked about the rise in popularity of independent candidates, Mr Martin said there is a “very fragmented political situation” in Ireland.

He said there is competition in different areas, including a large number of independents running.

Mr Martin said that having political parties in government is more “effective”.

“I think the more fundamental concern is, in what way would it affect or shape the formation of a government that could be decisive in the actions it takes, and that could last a full term,” he added.

“I think political parties give one the opportunity to have more cohesion within government and the capacity to govern effectively and decisively. Too much fragmentation would lead to incoherence in government and would lead to much more short termism and we asked the electorate to consider that before they make their decisions.”

Mr Martin said he has enjoyed the three-week campaign, describing it as “engaging and enriching”.

“I’ve met a lot of interesting people with some fascinating stories. The great thing about a campaign is you do meet a lot of different people, with different life experiences.

“So I’ve enjoyed that aspect of it and and I like campaigning. I think part of being in politics is having the capacity to like meeting people and like the engagement with people.

“That’s been my sense of the campaign so far. This is, you know, I’ve enjoyed this campaign, notwithstanding the weather.”