Ireland is set to go to polls on 26 February and voters are preparing to cast their ballots at polling stations across the country. Yet Inishfree, a remote island, situated off the coast of Donegal has very few people registered to vote, with polls going ahead a day earlier than the mainland.
Philomena Curruid, a local resident of Inishfree, has allowed the voters to use her home as the island's polling station. The four registered voters then travelled to her home by boat and helicopter in order to cast their ballot.
Philomena Curruid, (L) a resident of Inishfree Island, off the west coast of Ireland walks outside her home which has become the island's polling station for Ireland's general electionPaul Faith/ AFPPresiding Officer Carmel McBride (C) Private Dermot Corcoran from the Irish Air Corps and Garda Sergeant Paul McGee (L) walk to the polling station after arriving by helicopter on the island Inishbofin, IrelandReutersBoatman Oscar Duffy (L) helps islander Hans Schleweck off the boat as Police officer escorts the ballot box to the polling station at island of Inishfree, IrelandClodagh Kilcoyne/ ReutersPresiding officer Majella Harkin (R) and police officer Margaret Byrne arrive on the island of Inishfree, off the west coast of IrelandPaul Faith/ AFPA woman leaves the polling station after casting her vote on the island Inishbofin, IrelandDarren Staples/ IrelandPresiding officer, Magella Harkin and Police officer Margaret Byrne organise the ballot box at a house on the island of Inishfree, IrelandClodagh Kilcoyne/ ReutersPolice officer Margaret Byrne stands next to a ballot box at the designated voting house on the island of Inishfree, IrelandClodagh Kilcoyne/ ReutersA resident studies a sample polling card on the island Inishbofin, IrelandDarren Staples/ ReutersVoter Philomena Currid chats to Hans Schleweck outside the voting house that she owns on the island of Inishfree, IrelandClodagh Kilcoyne/ ReutersPresiding Officer Carmel McBride (R) and Garda Sergeant Paul McGee walk to the polling station after arriving by helicopter on the island Inishbofin, IrelandDarren Staples/ ReutersPolice officer Margaret Byrne puts up a voting sign at the designated voting house on the island of Inishfree, IrelandClodagh Kilcoyne/ ReutersA dog waits outside the polling station on the island of Inishfree, IrelandClodagh Kilcoyne/ ReutersResidents speak after casting their votes on the island Inishbofin, IrelandDarren Staples/ Reuters
In Dublin, Irish politicians are making their final appeals for support ahead of the country's general election, a contest that could produce a hung parliament and weeks of political uncertainty. Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny was joined by the deputy prime minister and leader of the Labour party, Joan Burton, and asked voters to continue their five-year-old coalition government in power.
Polls throughout Ireland's unusually short three-week campaign forecast that Kenny's centrist Fine Gael should remain the largest party in parliament, yet Burton's left-wing Labour Party faces potential obliteration, with Burton at risk of losing her own Dublin seat. Labour has served in the Irish government for 19 years, six times in coalition with Fine Gael or with smaller parties.
Campaign posters hang from lampposts in Dublin, IrelandDarren Staples/ ReutersA rainbow is seen behind a campaign poster for Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny in Dublin, IrelandDarren Staples/ ReutersRepublican party Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams (L) meets members of the public and talks to journalists in Dublin, IrelandLeon Neal/ Getty ImagesIrish Prime Minister and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader and Tánaiste, Joan Burton during a photocall at the Quayside in Dublin, IrelandLeon Neal/ Getty ImagesIrish Prime Minister and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny addresses journalists in the workshop of the Joe Duffy BMW garage in Finglas in north Dublin prior the final televised debate ahead of the general electionLeon Neal/ Getty ImagesIreland's Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Joan Burton arrives for a pre-election news conference in Dublin, IrelandClodagh Kilcoyne/ Reuters
