Will Ireland’s fed-up voters punish the Taoiseach in the snap election?

Will the elections taking place across Ireland today result in a whole new government? Not really, is the conclusion most Irish citizens seem to be coming to. ‘It’ll be the same two main parties in government – nothing will change,’ one hospitality manager notes reluctantly, nodding to the current three-party coalition in the Dáil of the centre-right Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil with the left-wing Greens. ‘Ireland likes a moderate government,’ another voter added. ‘Anything that’s not radical.’ 

The current Taoiseach, Fine Gael’s Simon Harris, saw his popularity soar by 17 points to 55 per cent just months after he replaced Leo Varadkar in March. His party is expected to take enough seats to enter into another coalition with Micheál Martin’s Fianna Fáil – and with the number of seats in the Dáil increasing to 174, a third party will likely be needed again to reach the required government-forming majority of 88.