The issues canvassers will face on the doorsteps

BRIAN COWEN will name the official date tomorrow, but this general election effectively started on the morning of September 30, 2008.

Overnight, the Government had arrived at the momentous decision to guarantee the country’s main banks in a bid to prevent the sector collapsing and causing an economic meltdown.

The main opposition parties had just a few hours to decide whether or not to support the guarantee, as the emergency legislation to give effect to the scheme was coming through the Dáil later that day.