Main Points
- We are in the final day of the Dublin Central and Galway West byelection campaigns
- Voting takes place from 7am to 10pm on Friday
- The margins between success and failure could be wafer thin, so expect a frantic final few days on the ground, says Pat Leahy
- Counting starts on Saturday morning with results expected by early evening
- Ahead of tomorrow’s votes, all Irish Times polling coverage and data, including the most pressing issues for voters, can be accessed here
Key ReadsIrish citizens detained by Israel expected to be deported
Activists, including several Irish citizens, who were detained by Israeli forces after taking part in a global flotilla bound for Gaza are expected to be deported to Turkey on Thursday.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said the detained Irish citizens were transferred overnight from Ashdod port to Ktzi’ot Prison, a detention facility in the Negev desert usually used for Palestinians.
Consular access had “not yet been granted” to the detention facility, McEntee said.
“Our Embassy in Tel Aviv remain on the ground and stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance and support as soon as access is permitted,” she said in a statement.
It is expected the Irish detainees will be deported to Turkey later on Thursday, she said, where they will be met by representatives of the Irish embassy there.
Have you moved but still travel home to vote? You may have committed a crime
Have you ever moved county, city, emigrated even, but still travelled home to vote in your local constituency? Then you may have committed an electoral crime.
It is illegal to vote in an Irish constituency you are not ordinarily resident in. There are loopholes – for example, emigrants are still allowed to vote at home up to 18 months after leaving, and students living away on weekdays can still be considered resident at home.
But for those who have relocated long term and find themselves registered in two constituencies, it is a crime punishable with jail time.
Yet it is also potentially easily done. Only one person was charged with attempting the crime of election fraud in the five years before the last general election.
Why just one? Because the electoral register is a mess.
Read more from Data Journalist Rachel Lavin here.
Who will win Friday’s byelections?
Political Editor Pat Leahy gives his take on what’s happening in these two constituencies and predicts who will win.
Byelections: who are the favourites to win in Dublin Central and Galway West? Voters told to head to the polls a day early in leaflet error
John Stephens leaflet
An error on leaflets distributed for Fianna Fáil’s Dublin Central candidate, John Stephens, ahead of Friday’s byelection has incorrectly seen constituents asked to head to the polls a day early.
Those who received the election literature on Wednesday were told to vote for Stephens on “Thursday, 22nd May”.
A small number of the leaflets with the production error were distributed, and it is understood it has since been rectified.
The phone number printed is also a digit short.
Three-horse race in Galway West – Poll People are ‘sick of the Government parties’, says former Fianna Fáil councillor
Noel Thomas canvasses on Galway’s William Street.
Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times
Although Independent Ireland candidate Noel Thomas came to national attention for his stance on immigration, he says it is “not one of the big issues on the doors” in Galway West.
Instead, the cost-of-living crisis is the biggest issue being raised, according to the councillor who left Fianna Fáil in 2024 after a fallout with the party over its immigration policy.
During a recent canvass, he told Andrew Hamilton there are people who are “sick of the Government parties” and feel “let down”.
“The ordinary person, when you knock on their door, they feel like they have no other purpose but to be there to pay taxes for the Government,” he said.
Read in full here.
Noel Thomas canvasses Losita Stack and Majella Fahy on Galway’s Eglinton Street. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times
Irish Times polling earlier this month showed Thomas in second place with 16 per cent of first preference votes. He was behind Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne (17 per cent).
Fears grow in Government over further tech job losses
Fears are growing in Government that yesterday’s job losses at Meta’s Irish operation could be followed by further cuts in the wider sector.
Meta on Wednesday cut up to 350 jobs, about 20 per cent of its Irish workforce, as part of the latest round of job losses that will see it shed thousands of roles worldwide.
Industry figures have privately warned Ministers and officials that as many as 80 per cent of tech jobs globally could be lost over the coming decade.
Read more here.
Ahead of tomorrow’s votes, all Irish Times polling coverage and data, including the most pressing issues for voters, can be accessed here.
McEntee to take Leaders’ Questions
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee will be taking Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil later today, during which the detained Gaza flotilla activists are likely to arise.
A video posted by Israeli far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has drawn criticism from both Israeli and international political figures.
In the video, Ben-Gvir is seen walking through a ship and taunting detained activists as they knelt on the floor with their hands bound.
A detained Irish activist, Caitríona Graham, is seen being restrained by soldiers and pushed back down by the head to a kneeing position after chanting: “Free, free Palestine.”
McEntee described it as “utterly appalling and unacceptable behaviour”.
Footage from Ashdod, Israel shows Israel’s minister of national security mocking detained activists who were aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Video: Reuters
More can be read on that here.
The Taoiseach, meanwhile, has written to the president of the European Council calling for an EU-wide banning of products from Israeli settlements and the suspension of the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel following its “shocking treatment” of the activists.
It is the final day of campaigning for Friday’s byelections in Dublin Central and Galway West.
Ahead of the polls opening at 7am tomorrow, party leaders will be joining candidates for a final round of canvassing, with the exception of Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
The Fianna Fáil leader will be in Paris to meet French president Emmanuel Macron.
However, Irish Times polling suggest his party’s candidates in both constituencies are unlikely to challenge for a seat.
In polls carried out earlier this month, Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan was leading the race in Dublin Central, followed by Social Democrats candidate Daniel Ennis. Veteran criminal and Independent candidate Gerry Hutch was in third place.
In Galway West, Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne held a slim lead over Independent Ireland candidate Noel Thomas. Labour’s Helen Ogbu was in third place.