The date of the Cork South Central by-election has been confirmed as Friday, October 23rd, by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey. The election, for the seat held by the late Fine Gael TD, Mr Hugh Coveney, was originally scheduled for October 22nd.
Mr John Bruton, the Fine Gael leader, requested in the Dail that the date be changed to the Friday to allow young people in whom Mr Coveney had such an interest to get home to vote.
The Minister announced yesterday that he had made an order "appointing Friday October 23rd" as polling day, with voting hours from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The closing date for nominations is noon on Saturday, October 10th.
Mr Coveney was killed when he fell from a cliff last March while trying to rescue a trapped dog. His son, Simon (26), is one of the contenders for the seat.
At the opening of his campaign in Ballincollig yesterday, Mr Bruton said the Government's inability to deal with the houseprice crisis was bringing the country perilously close to the negative equity phenomenon in Britain some years ago.
Mr Bruton said that in government Fine Gael would allow taxfree exemptions to middle and low earners to provide them with the necessary income to enter the property market. He suggested that workers taking home less than £40,000 a year should pay only the standard rate of tax.
Mr Coveney said that having knocked on more than 1,000 doors in the constituency he was acutely aware that the price of housing was a burning issue. People were also concerned desperately about Cork's growing traffic problem, the state of the health services and taxation.
He said the Cork Land Use and Transportation Study, which was coming to fruition and which would cost £300 million in new roads infrastructure, could only be made viable if the city's bus fleet was upgraded and strategic park-and-ride sites were provided around the new ring roads.
The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, said Mr Bruton's promise to give education spending priority amounted to a "brazen attempt to ignore Fine Gael's failure to make any significant investment in education previously".
Mr Toddy O'Sullivan, the Labour Party candidate, criticised the Government for failing to reintroduce the radon gas grant scheme for home-owners. Mr Peter Kelly, the Progressive Democrats candidate, called on the Government to investigate the practice of stage payments in the construction of houses in Cork. "Stage payments add in excess of £3,795 to the cost of a £70,000 mortgage, and even more if the mortgage is higher," he said.
The Green Party candidate, Mr Dan Boyle, criticised the "extravagant promises" made by Fine Gael in its transport plan for Cork. While in government, Fine Gael had shown no commitment to public transport in Cork.