Ireland goes to polls with three parties neck and neck

Ireland's taoiseach, Simon Harris, the leader of Fine Gael, said he expected a ‘fascinating couple of days’ after he cast his vote on Friday morning in Delgany, County Wicklow. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Ireland is going to the polls with voters expected to choose either a second term for the incumbent centre-right coalition or a left-leaning rainbow coalition led by a resurgent Sinn Féin, the former political wing of the IRA.

Opinion polls show a dead heat, with the two main government parties – Fine Gael, led by the taoiseach, Simon Harris, and Fianna Fáil, led by the former PM Micheál Martin – and Sinn Féin all hovering at about 20% of the vote.