LAST UPDATE | 26 Nov 2024

IT’S DAY 19. There’s fewer than 72 hours left until polls open – here’s what’s happening today.

Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald (right), Fine Gael's Simon Harris (top) and Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin during a previous debate. Alamy / The Journal Alamy / The Journal / The Journal

• Fine Gael’s Simon Harris, Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald will battle it out in the final leaders’ debate of the election on RTÉ One at 9.35pm.
• The Journal will be reporting from the RTÉ press room this evening, bringing you the latest on the debate, fact checking claims, asking the leaders questions and much more.
• A poll in The Irish Times today has suggested that the most-popular coalition would be Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and a new, third partner, with Sinn Féin without the other two parties in second place.
• Conspiracy theories about vote-rigging during the local and European elections peaked on polling day, The Journal reported this morning.
• Labour’s transport spokesperson Duncan Smith and candidate Rob O’Donoghue promised that their party would ensure the Dublin MetroLink project would be started within a year of them in government.
• Fine Gael’s Neale Richmond was joined by public expenditure minister Paschal Donohoe in Dublin Rathdown to discuss foreign direct investment outside Microsoft HQ.
• Professor Rónán Collins, a Consultant Physician in Geriatric and Stroke Medicine at Tallaght Hospital, wrote in The Journal this morning about the need for the healthcare system to be at the centre of discussion during this election.
• Women for Election’s Katie Deegan writes that for too long, Irish politics has been shaped by a system that excludes too many voices, particularly those of women, but this election is a chance to challenge that status quo.
• Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald was out with Dublin South Central candidates this morning and three senior members of the party are set to give a press conference this afternoon about cost of living policies.
• Independents4Change candidate Clare Daly, running in the competitive Dublin Central constituency, will be outlining “her vision for Dublin Central and views on wider political issues” this afternoon.
• Social Democrats’ Garry Gannon told reporters in Dublin city this morning that his party want to tackle child poverty, if in government, by making sure effective cost of living measures and childcare supports are introduced.
• Minister for Finance Jack Chambers discussed the cost of living and Fianna Fáil’s preparations for any international financial shocks during the next Dáil term in Dublin.
• Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman and a number of Green TDs outlined their climate action priorities and “their central climate question for the person who aspires to be the country’s next Taoiseach” in Dublin city.