Election countdown enters final few days

Politicians across the country are entering their final few days of canvassing ahead of Friday's elections.

The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, will be in Carlow and Kilkenny today, where he will be hoping to boost the re-election campaign of Fianna Fail MEP Liam Aylward.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, meanwhile, will be in Cork to support the party's European candidates in Ireland South - the sitting MEP Colm Burke and former GAA president Sean Kelly.

Elsewhere, the Labour Party is due to publish its proposals for protecting jobs and getting the country back on the road to economic recovery.