A round-up of today's other election news in brief.
Leaving Cert student to run against teacher
STUDENT Tom Raine, a teenager who will start sitting his Leaving Certificate just two days before polling day for the local elections, is to run against a teacher at his school.
Raine (19), from Newtown Glen in Tramore, yesterday said he decided to run for the Tramore Town Council after seeking advice from his teacher, Cllr Ann Marie Power, who is a Fine Gael running mate.
Raine is spending his days studying for his exams, while his evenings are taken up canvassing for votes.
The Tramore CBS student is the first ever secondary school student to run for a seat on the town council.
"My Leaving Cert begins on June 3rd, which is two days before polling day . . . obviously this will be a very demanding week for me but a robust study plan has been devised."
The student said he "got interested in politics from watching the news" and that Ms Power, a French teacher at the CBS, helped him to get involved. Ms Power, said she is "100 per cent behind" her student.
A byelection by any name
Forget the economy, grammar is exercising the minds of many voters who have inquired to this column about the correct spelling of byelection.
Confusion is evident not least in the campaign literature of Fine Gael’s George Lee, which contains no less than three different versions: “bye election”, “by-election” and “bye-election”.
UCD elections expert Prof Richard Sinnott says he can’t find “any particular political angle to the various usages”.
Irish Timesstyle is to minimise the use of hyphens, which explains the spelling in these pages. Reader Ross Church wryly notes "the only sure thing is that for all except one of the candidates, it will be goodbye-election".
Council to bridge gap
Kerry County Council is to rebuild a bridge which collapsed after it was struck more than two years ago by a lorry carrying 241 pigs.
The reconstruction of the Ballinagar Bridge near Listowel had been pulled back from tender in the supplementary Budget.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen was approached by members of the bridge action committee when he visited Listowel last Monday, but said he wasn't "au fait" with the issue and couldn't give any assurances in relation to its erection.
Campaigners, who have long sought the council to rebuild the bridge, left disappointed. However, in the intervening days the clouds have lifted over the bridge of pigs and the council yesterday said it can now go ahead with reconstruction.
QUOTES
"It is regrettable that a candidate from a Government party is engaging in negative campaigning in the midst of one of the greatest economic crises this country has ever seen."
Senator Alan Kelly, Labour's candidate for Ireland South in the European elections, criticises Green Party rival Dan Boyle
"The Irish Times"
Libertas leader Declan Ganley campaigning for the European elections responds to a confused constituent who asks what had made her think he was anti-Europe.
