Enda the road for Kenny: Irish turn backs on coalition after years of austerity

Counting in Ireland’s election was getting under way on Saturday morning with exit polls suggesting prime minister Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael party was in for a mauling. It seems unlikely Mr Kenny’s governing coalition will get the majority needed for a second term in office as he was hit by a backlash aganst five years of austerity. A poll for the Irish Times newspaper showed support for Fine Gael had slumped to 26.1%, compared with 36.1% in 2011. Backing for junior coalition partners Labour also plummeted - from 19.5% to 7.8%, while Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, Independents and smaller parties all made significant gains.

I think after the election, what we will see is potentially a hung Dail

Richard Colwell, head of Red C polling

About two million people cast their votes in one of the most uncertain elections in the country’s recent political history. The outcome will leave serious questions hanging over Mr Kenny, who appears to have blown the goodwill and huge majority after the party’s best election result in 2011. Labour leader Joan Burton first has the massive hurdle of retaining her seat before questions will turn to her leadership and choices in government. The likely outcome is a hung parliament, with the voter schism threatening to blow apart a duopoly enjoyed for more than 80 years by Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, which swapped power for generations.

I don’t trust any of the politicians but it’s a bit the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.

Voter Michael Gallagher

enda kenny