Inside the Bridge Shopping Centre in Tullamore, Simply Red’s Money’s Too Tight to Mention can be heard blaring from the speakers.
The 1985 song appears apt on this blustery morning in the Co Offaly town as shoppers note their increasing grocery, electricity and gas bills.
Among them is Brendan Doyle (62), a retired multitask assistant at the local hospital, who says his latest food shop for himself and his wife came to €137 and “the fridge is only half full”.
Doyle says he will be voting for Independent left-wing candidate Catherine Connolly on Friday as “she’s not a Government candidate”.
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He would traditionally vote for Sinn Féin and would have liked if the party had run its own candidate.
“Let’s be honest, she’s [Connolly] the best of a bad lot,” he says.
“I would have liked more candidates, some more choice but I would not vote for any Government candidate. They’re in power now for however many years and things are only getting worse - housing, the cost of living. It’s not getting any better.
“For both parties, especially Fine Gael not to allow their members to vote for anyone else - that’s not democratic. We’ve a council here that never nominated anyone, it’s all Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. That’s not good enough. They’re there to represent us.”
Doyle adds that he has been particularly disappointed by Fine Gael’s attacks on Connolly, in particular the social media video posted by the party in relation to her representing banks in repossession cases through her work as a barrister.
“It’s scumbag politics,” he says. “The comments that are being made, it’s not nice and it’s basically coming from one side. It’s bully boy tactics from the Government.”
Doyle’s wife, Denise (62), says she is undecided but is also leaning towards Connolly due to her experience as a TD, a barrister as well as her ability to speak Irish.
She says she also would have preferred a wider range of candidates, having previously voted for Labour and Independents, and felt there was “no real choice” for voters.
“I wouldn’t vote for Heather Humphreys because I don’t agree with any of Fine Gael’s policies,” she says. “I don’t think they’re looking after Irish people’s best interests.
“They’re more interested in developers, which is important, but you have to have an equal balance. My kids are in Australia. We would like them to be here but they can’t afford to be here.”
Niamh Guinan (27), originally from Rahan but living in Tullamore, says she hopes to vote on Friday but has no preference at the moment.
“I would have liked more candidates, I think everyone agrees on that,” she says. “I suppose Catherine Connolly seems more relatable, especially with social housing, the homelessness crisis. She’s advocating for a lot of stuff people want.”
Guinan says it is “very hard” to try to juggle the costs of being a single mother to her son Mason (2), with high rent and childcare costs.
“I’d love to go back to college and study and be able to pay childcare but it’s just too much,” she adds.
Liz Delaney (74), a retired care assistant from Birr, says she is not sure if she will vote, but will go for Humphreys if she does.
“It’s nothing to do with the presidential election, but I would vote [for] her because she got us the free fuel allowance,” she says.
“I’ve been sick of the way the campaign has gone and there are a lot of people who are not going to vote at all. That’s the feedback I’m hearing.”
A woman in her 70s, who asks not to named, also says she will be voting for Humphreys but would have preferred Mairead McGuinness as the party’s candidate.
“I feel Catherine is going to win but I’m really anti-her because I don’t like her stance on the EU. She voted no for everything and I didn’t like what she said about Germany,” she says.
Over at the nearby SK Barber Shop on High Street, Niall Kane (40) says he was planning to vote for Jim Gavin before the Fianna Fáil candidate pulled out of the race but is now likely to back Connolly.
Kane believes the town, home to the former taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Brian Cowen and his brother MEP Barry Cowen, continues to be a Fianna Fáil “stronghold”.
“I’ve heard a lot of people are still going to vote for Gavin, to spoil their vote,” says Kane.
“I blame the party for not doing their research. What I liked about Gavin was that he was out and about, doing the park runs. He was out actually being one of the people, not just hidden away in Áras an Uachtaráin. Tullamore is such a big GAA town so everyone would have known Jim Gavin, they wouldn’t know Connolly as much.”
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Kane says he voted for Fianna Fáil’s Tony McCormack in last year’s general election but believes Connolly has “good values”. He says the biggest issues for him currently are housing and the cost of living.
“For me, at 40 years of age, it’s hard to get on the property ladder,” he says.
“When you have a young family and you’re paying for childcare, school; they’re just making it impossible for middle Ireland to do anything. You saw it in the budget, the rich stay rich and the poor get poorer and the middle ground stay there and have to pay for everything.”
James Buckley (20), a swimming instructor from Pollagh, says he won’t be voting as he has “no interest” and will be travelling to Dublin for the weekend.
“It’s [the election] not really talked about, you only ever see it on the morning news and sure who watches that anymore?” he says. “There’s better things to be talking about than elections.”
