Final day of campaigning marked by clashes

A BITTER final day of the election campaign saw Fine Gael and the Greens exchange angry blows over allegations of a secret deal with republicans, while Brian Cowen insisted he would not quit whatever the scale of the voter backlash against his Government.

As the parties held their final press conferences ahead of a 24-hour moratorium on election coverage being observed by TV and radio today, Mr Cowen insisted he would continue as Taoiseach even if Fianna Fáil suffers heavy losses tomorrow.

He made the comments shortly before figures revealed the exchequer deficit had widened to about €10.6 billion by the end of last month.