IT'S not tax, stupid! That's the message to the party leaders from many of the regional papers on the eve of election week.
While the parties have tied up the electorate in mathematical knots - with their personal tax proposals, many other issues are taxing voter's minds.
The Longford Leader editorial says the tax debate is a "massive delusion" perpetrated by politicians and their spin doctors. Politicians are only interested in making those with jobs better off and the unemployed are deemed to be "children of a lesser God".
The Leitrim Observer took to the streets to ask people what the election issues were. Unemployment and rural decline were two big concerns, while tourism, crime, the Northern peace process, the condition of local roads and underage drinking were also discussed.
The regional papers are dominated by election issues, with profiles, predictions, polls and photographs of flying visits by party leaders.
Tipperary's most famous outgoing TD, Mr Michael Lowry, is smiling in his shirt sleeves and tie from a small front page advertisement in the Tipperary Star.
"No other Tipp TD has a record to match Michael Lowry," it says. "He puts the hours in and he gets things done - and he has more to do."
The Kerryman has a poll predicting that Fianna Fail will lose a seat in the three seat South Kerry constituency. Only an electoral miracle, it says, would enable local councillor, Mr Brian O'Leary, to retain the seat being vacated by his father, John.
Local Fine Gael candidate, Mr Jim Kelly, is awaiting his own polling day miracle. His wife, Samantha, is expecting the couple's first baby on June 6th.
The Donegal Democrat has a front page story warning voters to report suspected personation. The Letterkenny Fine Gael councillor, Mr Jimmy Harte, said 15 per cent of voters in the last local elections were not known in the area or had left.
The television deflector issue is still alive and well in Donegal. The Community TV Group warns in the Donegal Democrat that the county's 60 deflector operators would have to pay £500 each to apply for licences under the UHF Television Retransmission Scheme.
The deflector groups, which are run on a voluntary basis, would be hard pushed to meet this requirement, as well as a bond of £10,000 each, said a spokesman for the Community TV Group.
THERE are also deflector issues facing visitors to Co Donegal. Some may find it hard to negotiate their way around the county due to poor sign posting, according to Democratic Left councillor, Mr Seamus Rodgers. Mr Rodgers complained at a Donegal County Council meeting that tourists often found themselves on a "mystery tour". The council is working on upgrading the signposts which Mr Rodgers described as old, dirty and rusty. In Shannon, there is "serious concern" among the town commissioners over the display in the town of 200 posters naming alleged drug dealers.
The Clare Champion says gardai are investigating the incident in which the posters, with skulls and crossbones, were erected in the town. In an unsigned statement to the paper, the group behind the move said another 800 posters were planned for Shannon, Limerick and Newmarket on Fergus.
"Know your Geography" is the slogan of a campaigning group which is objecting to an application by Limerick Corporation to extend its boundaries into the southeast of Co Clare.
Clare Against the Boundary Extension (CABE) told the Clare Champion that most residents in the area consider the county's territory to be "sacrosanct".
In Leinster, boy scouts are on the look out for new territory of their own. The troopers of Kilcullen are currently training in a damp room with half a roof, according to the Leinster Leader, which reports that a parents' committee has been set up to search for a suitable premises.
The paper also reports a classroom crisis in Naas's primary schools, with "primary one students being turned away due to a lack of space. One school has enforced an entry age limit of four due to the population pressure.
"Sex - Men Suffer" is the ambiguous front page headline in the Kilkenny People above a story which said that a high proportion of Kilkenny men have sex problems. Like fellow sufferers around the State, many are suffering in silence. Impotence affects 2,718 of the 38,059 men in the county, according to national figures released by the Impotence Information Bureau.
Kilkenny residents have been assured by the Environmental Protection Agency and the South Eastern Health Board that their tap water, despite being offcolour and smelly for a few days, is drinkable. The county council said algae blooms and a wet bout were to blame.
The New Ross Standard has a editorial on what for some is a much more pressing matter than the election race. With The Late Late Show, Pat Kenny Show and Glen roe off the screens, the paper predicts that RTE's virtual summer shutdown will lead to viewers switching permanently to other channels.
