Voting starts in Ireland in closely-fought general election

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00I'll tell you first, four voters so far, and the politicians will be worried that the wind

00:06and the rain may affect the turnout in this election.

00:11But favourites to go back into power is, in the opinion polls, that the two main parties

00:19are favourites in the outgoing coalition, that's Fine Gael, Simon Harris, the Taoiseach,

00:25the Prime Minister's party, and Micheál Martin of Fianna Fáil.

00:30Now both these parties have been running the state since its foundation in 1921, and on

00:36the opposition side Sinn Féin have been calling for change.

00:40They've been calling for change for a very long time now.

00:44They almost got it five years ago, but they couldn't form a government.

00:48This is a proportional representation system.

00:52There will not be an outright winner with an overall majority.

00:57There will be a coalition.

00:58So these two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, at the centre-right, are the most likely

01:04to find the deputies in the Dáil, the parliament, to form a government.

01:09But obviously this is early times yet, people haven't voted yet, and it could be a real

01:14difference because for the first time in this election you have far-right candidates on

01:19anti-immigration tickets.

01:22That's the first time in Ireland, Ireland traditionally a country that has a long story

01:26of migration and had been very tolerant to asylum seekers, to people coming in.

01:31And in fact, this is the 14th anniversary of the EU-IMF bailout today when Ireland's

01:38economy was saved by the EU.

01:41Like 14 years later, Ireland has reimbursed its loan to the IMF.

01:47It's in full employment with one of the fastest growing economies in Europe.

01:55And it needs foreign workers because otherwise the economy, the structures couldn't work.

02:01But, of course, not everything is pink here because there is obviously one reason that

02:08these anti-immigration candidates are gaining ground.

02:12This is the housing crisis.

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