Beleaguered Gilmore emerges from shadows at 11th hour

Is Eamon Gilmore already Labour’s lost leader before a vote has been cast?

His handlers never seemed to be able to tell you where he was canvassing, making one suspicious that either the Tánaiste was not bothering to hit the doorsteps much, or that those door-stepped hit back so hard that Labour did not really want independent observers to witness it.

Mr Gilmore insisted he was out every day meeting voters and then he suddenly officially invited reporters to watch him swing through the electoral jungle today.