The major political parties reported last night that the turnout of voters in the general election was higher than in the last election five years ago when only 62.5 per cent of the electorate voted. Stephen Collins, Political Editor, reports.
More than three million people were entitled to vote in the election to the 30th Dáil after what has been one of the most intensely fought election contests in decades.
Weather conditions were much better than in 2002 and all the parties said that turnout by late evening was up on last time, particularly in middle-class areas.
In Dublin the turnout was said to be good, particularly in better-off suburbs and in the commuter belt in surrounding counties where many people cast their votes early on their way to work.
However, the turnout in the more deprived working class areas of Dublin was said to be poor and the same pattern appears to have applied in other major centres.
In Cork the turnout was high in areas like Blarney and Cloghroe but lower in some of the other parts of the city. It was much higher in county constituencies of Cork South West, Cork North West and Cork East.
The turnout in Co Limerick, where extra polling booths were installed to cope with the increased population, was also reported to be up on 2002 while there were similar reports from Kerry.
In Mayo, the home constituency of the Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, the turnout was said to be high both in the rural areas and towns like Castlebar and Ballina.
In Louth political pundits were predicting a big turnout. In Dundalk, Drogheda and in a number of villages, presiding officers reported small queues waiting for the polling stations to open so that they could vote on the way to work.
In the southeast, an early flood of voters saw up to 40 per cent of voters turning out in parts of Waterford by mid-afternoon.
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman said last night that the turnout across the State appeared to have been "pretty high." A spokesman for Fine Gael said that it had been good in areas where the party hoped to do well. A Labour spokesman said that it appeared to have been ahead of 2002 but he said that it seemed to have been highest in the more middle class areas of Dublin.
A number of controversies between candidates of the same parties enlivened polling day. One of them involved the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who sent a message to all voters in his constituency asking for a number one vote for himself, a number two for Senator Cyprian Brady and a number three for Cllr Mary Fitzpatrick.
"I am really disappointed for my supporters and for Fianna Fáil because this is not going to help to secure a second seat for Fianna Fáil. My phone hasn't stopped ringing since this morning," Ms Ftizpatrick told The Irish Times.
There was also a row in Fine Gael in Dún Laoghaire after one of the party's three candidates in the constituency, John Bailey, delivered a mail shot on Wednesday night claiming that the party organisation was requesting voters to give him the number one to "maximise the vote" in the area.
The Fine Gael national director of elections, Frank Flannery, and the constituency director of elections, Paddy Hayes, dispatched a letter to voters in the constituency emphasising that they were not being asked to favour one candidate over another.
There are 466 candidates standing for election in 43 constituencies.