Fine Gael's Tom Barry hopes to be standing tall after vote

In Fermoy, three statues commemorate the town’s monastic past. The monks are affectionately known as the Three Amigos. The question on everybody’s mind is who will be the Fourth Amigo — or TD — for the Cork East constituency.

Tom Barry, one of the two outgoing Fine Gael TDs, can’t predict it, which is hardly surprising considering the amount of undecided voters he encountered on a canvass in north Cork.

“It’s very hard to call. Last time there was major anger against the [Fianna Fáil-led] government for the way they let the country down,” he says. “There’s a strong possibility there could be a minority FG/FF government returned.”