A general election date of February 8th has now been set.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been meeting with his cabinet colleagues this morning.
This would be the first General Election to be held on a Saturday in Ireland since 1918, and therefore the first in the history of the Republic.
However, the polling date means thousands of people on the draft register might not be able to vote because the updated electoral register isn’t valid until February 15th.
There are five Dáil seats up for grabs in the Carlow/Kilkenny constituency with 11 candidates declared so far.
Three for Fine Gael: TD John Paul Phelan, TD Pat Deering, and Cllr Patrick O’Neill.
Three for Fianna Fáil: TD John McGuinness, TD Bobby Aylward, and Senator Jennifer Murnane O’Connor.
One for the Green Party: Cllr Malcolm Noonan.
One for People Before Profit: Cllr Adrienne Wallace.
One for Sinn Féin: TD Kathleen Funchion.
One for Labour: Cllr Denis Hynes.
One for the Irish Freedom Party: Melissa O’Neill.
