Irish president, Higgins dissolves parliament ahead of general election

Michael D Higgins, Ireland’s president, has formally dissolved the Dail parliament to signal the start of a general election campaign.

The historic Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, and Green Party coalition government, which lasted four and a half years, will be dissolved on Friday.

President Michael D Higgins began a three-week campaign on Friday.

Micheal Martin, the head of Fianna Fail, served as Taoiseach during the first half of the government’s mandate, before Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar took over in December 2022.

Mr Varadkar resigned from the role earlier this year and was succeeded by party colleague Mr Harris.

Party officials have identified housing, immigration, and childcare as significant electoral topics.

Ireland has seen a boom in migration over the last two years, owing in large part to tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

This, combined with pre-existing housing shortages, has put an unprecedented demand on accommodation availability, resulting in rising tensions and the subject of immigration rising to the political forefront.

Despite efforts to expand the number of state-built homes, record homelessness rates continue to rise, and house and rental prices remain stubbornly high as demand continuously outstrips supply in many places, particularly Dublin.

The government is also under fire for the housing problem, which is juxtaposed with soaring public finances, with state coffers buoyed each year by billions in tax receipts from international corporations that have established bases in Ireland.