The European election campaign in Dublin is now centred on who will take the third seat, outgoing Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy said today.

Responding to polls suggesting Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan and Fine Gael's Brian Hayes would take the first two seats, he appealed for votes for himself to take the remaining seat.

“If people want two austerity-critical candidates elected, and want to deliver the strongest blow to the Government, the best way to achieve this is to give me their number one vote,’’ he added.

"I can defeat Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, whose responsibility for the bank bailout, water charges and property tax must not be forgotten.''

Speaking at the Anti-Austerity Alliance's final press conference in Dublin, Mr Murphy predicted that the story of the campaign was "undoubtedly going to be the deserved punishment of the Labour party for its implementation of austerity''.

Socialist Party candidate in the Dublin West byelection Ruth Coppinger said the homeless problem was because of policies pursued by the Government and previous governments.

“The right to a home is a basic right,’’ she added. “Yet, through disgraceful cuts to rent allowance, the stoking of a new property bubble and the rise in rents many people are now facing the prospect of sleeping on the streets.’’

Ms Coppinger said if elected, she would fight alongside the action group campaigning for an emergency house-building programme.

Phil Foster, a local elections candidate in Tallaght South, Dublin, said the first task after the counts would be the building of a mass campaign of non-payment of the water charges. "The Labour party has betrayed the people they claimed to represent, the working class,'' she added.

The press conference was also attended by Dublin West Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins.