Fergus Finlay: It feels like political parties want the elections finished with quickly

There was a time in Ireland when elections like these created excitement, even a bit of pizzazz

Political campaign posters fill every available space of fencing at the junction of the Skehard Road and the Mahon Link in Cork. Picture: Chani Anderson

Is it just me, or are these the weirdest set of elections you’ve ever seen? You know there are elections going on, because every lamppost in the country is festooned with posters. My letterbox is in danger of falling off the wall under the weight of the leaflets surreptitiously stuffed in there, I’m guessing at dead of night.

I live in a very polite and friendly neighbourhood. We greet each other in the street, we help people across the road if the need it, we (mostly anyway) take care to manage the material that all the friendly dogs around here would leave behind if it wasn’t managed. We’re nice, we’re decent, we’re ok around here.