19/02 The Front Pages

Politics, politics and yet more politics as we edge closer to election day, plus broadband charges, Dustin the Turkey and a lot of bald heads.

According to the Irish Independent we’re in the middle of a war. Or rather, there’s a war going on between Fine Gael and Labour over the union vote, with members of unions being urged to back ‘Left’ candidates when the country goes to the polls next Friday.

The Indo says that the country’s biggest trade unions are mobilising their members in a “desperate” bid to stop Fine Gael from forming a single-party government and to vote for parties on the left of the political spectrum – in particular, Labour.

The union leaders have warned of the “dangers” of voting for Fine Gael in what is the first sustained campaign of this sort.

The move comes after Fine Gael announced on its website that it would take on “vested interests” such as bankers, property developers and... unions. It claimed that these groups had all contributed to the situation we now find ourselves in.

Pictured on the front of Saturday’s Indo are Dustin the Turkey and Donncha O’Callaghan as they joined forces at a charity event in Dublin to raise money to help lower the number of children who die from preventable diseases.

There’s another charitable photo on the front of The Irish Times, this time a shot of some of the 317 dome heads that were created as a result of Today FM’s successful record attempt to shave the most number of heads in one hour by ten barbers.

So far, the ‘Shave or Dye’ campaign has raised more than €300,000 for patient care services provided by the Irish Cancer Society.

Back to politics, this time to the outgoing government. The Times reports that Fianna Fáil are to make a final appeal to core voters in order to stave off electoral meltdown. Micheál Martin will warn that the very survival of the party is at stake when he makes a speech to the grassroots on Sunday, before launching into 20 broadcast interviews in the days ahead.

The Irish Examiner has carried out a poll of under 35s which shows that younger voters are set to buck the general trend and give support to Labour at the expense of Fine Gael.

The poll also shows that the Greens, Independents and member of smaller parties look set to get better support from those in the 18-34 age bracket than from the electorate as a whole.

Fianna Fáil’s decline was also more pronounced among younger voters.

The results of the Examiner’s poll have both Labour and Fine Gael on 25 per cent. Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil on 11 per cent, the Greens on five per cent and Independents/Others on 23 per cent.

Elsewhere on the front of the Examiner is news that broadband packages in Ireland are the most expensive in Europe. It’s more than twice the EU average, in fact.

Finally to the front of the tabloids, where we hear that Jordan is being stalked by a transvestite (The Irish Sun) and that a brother of Irish soccer star Richie Foran is behind bars for throwing a chair at a judge in a Cavan courtroom (Irish Daily Star).