LAST UPDATE | 12 Nov 2024

Mescal at the Gladiator II launch in Dublin last week. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

IT’S DAY FIVE of this three-week election campaign – here’s the latest:

• Simon Harris told the Irish Farmers’ Association this afternoon that there needs to be a “reset” on the relationship between politicians and farmers.
• The Greens have unveiled their key election promises, which include using €7 billion of the Apple tax cash for ongoing and future public transport projects such as MetrokLink.
• We got the first mention of Gladiator star Paul Mescal at the Greens launch too – answering a question about how the party might fare as a coalition partner in a new Government, deputy leader Roisín Garvey noted that, sometimes, sequels can be better than the original. (You can read our report on the manifesto launch here – or if you’d prefer, here’s Aoife Barry’s review of Gladiator II from yesterday). 
• Mary Lou McDonald has accused Fine Gael and Fianna Fail of treating her party’s supporters as “second-class citizens” in light of their seeming unwillingness to consider Sinn Féin as a potential coalition partner. She was out with Eoin Ó Broin in Dublin Mid-West talking housing policy.
• It follows last night’s clashes between parties in one of the first big TV set pieces of the campaign – an extended special of Upfront with Katie Hannon focused on housing. The Journal‘s FactCheck team looked at various claims made and determined what’s true and what’s not.
• Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns announced her party’s red line as they talk potential coalitions: 50,000 affordable purchase homes per year or no deal.
• Amongst the day’s other events, Labour launched their finance policy and People Before Profit unveiled a ‘Manifesto for Disability Justice’.  Aontú, meanwhile, launched their immigration policy.
• The mayor of Clonmel in Co Tipperary posted a video on social media showing one of his election posters going up in flames, and told The Journal that the incident was a “cowardly, evil act”.
• The PA news agency confirmed that an image of a homeless man sleeping beside a Fine Gael poster was doctored. But not before People Before Profit’s official X account, as well as other TDs, shared it without verification or a health warning.
• If you’re not sure whether you’re on the register to vote, you’d better check today, as it’s the last day to make sure you’re signed up (it only takes three minutes to register – you can find out more here).