Voters in Tipperary South will make electoral history today when they cast their by-election ballots in the first poll to be held in the Republic on a Saturday.
Politicians hope the choice of Saturday will encourage the 55,055 voters to turn out.
Polling stations throughout the constituency will open at 9 a.m. and stay open until 10 p.m. Counting will begin tomorrow morning, though a first count declaration may not be ready until tomorrow teatime.
The vacancy has been caused by the death last year of Fine Gael TD, Ms Theresa Ahearn.
The challengers are Fianna Fail's Mr Michael Maguire, Fine Gael's Senator Tom Hayes, Labour's Mr Denis Landy and the Workers' and Unemployed Action Group's Ms Phil Prendergast.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, badly needs a win following a series of blows since he replaced Mr John Bruton. In last year's by-election, following the death of Labour TD Mr Michael Ferris, Fianna Fail's vote in the constituency fell disastrously to 22.76 per cent from 37.28 per cent in the 1997 general election.
Led by campaign manager Mr Brian Lenihan TD, Fianna Fail hopes significantly to improve that showing. However, a TG4 poll put its candidate third in the rankings at 28 per cent.
The opinion poll, published on Wednesday, indicated that Senator Hayes is the favourite to win the seat, though the Clonmel-based Ms Prendergast is believed to have made up substantial ground.
On Thursday, the Government accepted a Fine Gael proposal to ban the publication of all polls in the last week of election campaigns.
Accepting the spirit of the amendment, the Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Bobby Molloy, sought assurance that the Opposition were united in their support for the change.
The Government will have to produce an amendment in time for next week's Report Stage of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill. "Legal advice on this has yet to be taken," said a Government spokesperson last evening.
The National Newspapers of Ireland opted not to make any comment on the Government's ban decision "until we have time to consult all of our members", said a spokesperson.
