General election 2024: Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil in near dead heat at end of campaign
Polling stations open at 7am on Friday after a general election campaign that seemed to meander through a blizzard of lavish spending promises before jolting into life in its final week as concerns arose about the likely policies of the incoming Trump administration.
Voting across the 43 constituencies will continue until 10pm on Friday, after which ballot boxes will be sealed and securely transported to the 32 count centres in advance of their opening at 9am on Saturday morning.
Almost 3.7 million people, the largest number ever, are eligible to vote in the election, an increase of 423,000 voters since the 2020 election. There were over 100,000 new registrations in the two weeks before the closing deadline – a fact which adds to the unpredictability of an election that few are confident of calling.
News in Ireland
- Election 2024: How do I vote, what are the polls saying and how does the system work?: Everything you need to know as polling stations open across Ireland
- Retailers taken to court over ‘fake discounts’ as Black Friday starts Christmas sales season: Retailers selling electronics, cosmetics, furniture and clothes have been accused by the consumer watchdog of deliberately misleading shoppers looking for bargains in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
- Almost 1,000 vie to buy State’s most expensive ‘affordable’ homes: Almost 1,000 prospective homebuyers have applied for just 51 houses costing up to €495,000 in the State’s most expensive “affordable purchase” housing scheme built to date.
- Daughters of IRA commander Joe McCann abused by relative following father’s murder: Two daughters of official IRA commander Joe McCann were sexually abused by a relative whose home they had fled to in Galway following their father’s murder.
- Weather forecast: Breezy and wet at times with outbreaks of rain in the west and southwest, spreading nationwide by midday. Drier weather with sunny spells will extend from the southwest through the afternoon. Highest temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees, reports Met Éireann.
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The Big Read
- Radio review: Newstalk’s interview with Gerry Hutch is an anticlimax after Kevin Myers’s inflammatory opinions fill the air: The Hard Shoulder host Kieran Cuddihy allows his veteran journalist guest to get up to his old scheisse-stirring tricks
Opinion
- Justine McCarthy: Conor McGregor was facilitated by a culture of entitlement and cheered on by adoring fans
- Diarmaid Ferriter: Cillian Murphy’s view of Ireland in the 1980s as ‘the dark ages’ misses the point
Business
- CIÉ Group warns scale of its pension contribution set to increase to unsustainable levels: The scale of pension contributions the CIÉ Group will have to make in future will increase significantly to unaffordable levels, based on actuarial projections, the chairman of the State-owned transport group has warned the Government.
Sports
- Farrell hoping Ireland have kept their best performance until last against Australia: Whether the provinces see it this way or not is a moot point, but Ireland are in bonus territory this weekend with the addition of a fourth Autumn Nations Series game against Australia, or at any rate it will be very much a bonus if they keep their best performance until last against Joe Schmidt’s team.
World
- China’s tradition of confinement after giving birth: ‘I made it to the sixth day and then I just had to have a shower’: They had been so close for so long, the five of them, that when Xue became pregnant they treated it like a milestone in all of their lives. Two couples and my reluctantly single friend Hao, they met a decade ago in college, where many Chinese people form their firmest lifelong friendships.
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Your top stories on Friday
Key election 2024 battles: maps show where Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin hope to gain - and may lose - seats
Johnny Watterson: Tough love for Jack Crowley as big opportunity knocks for Sam Prendergast
Stephen Collins: Ireland needs to treat infrastructure crisis with same urgency as past jobs crisis
- Emer McLysaght: You are one of six types of people – and your Spotify Unwrapped results will reveal which one: Your music listening habits for 2024 are due. Soon you will be revealed as a Muso, a Fanatic, a Morto ...
Podcast Highlights
Election Daily: the highs and lows of a tense campaign
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