Pendulum swings over slightly to Fianna Fáil

THE consistent narrative of this election for the first three weeks was of Fianna Fáil going south, of Bertie losing his touch, of Enda and Pat having a wind behind them that seemed to intensify by an extra point on the Beaufort Scale each day.

The final weekend before polling day is always critical; the make-your-mind-up moment for many floaters. No matter what the polls have been saying, whatever side they are trending to at this point will usually have the momentum in the last couple of days of the campaign.

Until 9pm last night, there was some slight evidence that Fianna Fáil was staging a small recovery. The party had clawed back a point or two in support in yesterday’s Red C poll for the Business Post and the IMS Millward Brown poll for the Sunday Independent. But there was nothing for the alternative of Fine Gael and Labour to get too worried about: their support was holding steady.