A new website will give voters the ability to compare the views of more than 500 candidates in the election. The whichcandidate.ie site is a collaboration between the University of Limerick (UL) and The Irish Times, with funding from the Irish Research Council.

With a dozen parties in the running and so many candidates already declared, voters will be faced with an unprecedented level of choice. Navigating this menu of options to make an informed voting decision will not be easy, particularly for those voters who want to decide based on policy.

The idea behind the website is to compare all the candidates in a constituency. A voter can easily find out which candidate agrees with his or her views on the most important issues.

Every political party and candidate was asked to complete a questionnaire which indicated where they stood on the key issues, including taxation, water, housing, employment and abortion.

Voters can answer a set of questions to see which candidates they agree with in their constituency. Voters can also browse a personal profile page for each candidate to find out what they stand for, how they (or their party) answered the survey, or how to connect with them on social media.

Rory Costello, a lecturer in politics at UL, has been the driving force behind the site. He said visitors to the website were not asked for any identifying information and were free to use the site as often as they liked.

Full coverage of Election 2016, and a link to whichcandidate.ie, can be found at irishtimes.com/election2016