Irish voters set to oust Govt

IRISH: Ireland's Government is set to become the first to fall victim to the EU debt crisis in Friday's general election, three months after it was forced to accept an international bailout.

Voters look certain to dump the eurozone country's traditional party of government, Fianna Fail, along with discredited prime minister Brian Cowen, and usher in an opposition which has vowed to renegotiate the bailout terms.

Fine Gael, led by prime minister-in-waiting Enda Kenny, has campaigned on a promise to negotiate less onerous conditions from the EU and IMF for a nation battered by three years of economic storms.

Since the last national election in 2007, the boom that saw Ireland dubbed the "Celtic Tiger" and allowed it to put behind centuries of poverty and emigration has collapsed into a mire of debt and recrimination.

The final humiliation came in November, when Dublin was forced to accept a package with the EU and IMF worth 85 billion euros ($115 billion) and agree a fresh round of austerity measures to slash its massive budget deficit.

Even before a vote has been cast, Kenny has visited EU officials and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss renegotiating the terms something 82 percent of Irish voters say they want. The talks were "to indicate to them that if we're elected to government that we should return to Brussels and renegotiate this bad deal regarding interest rates and bank debts," Kenny said in a TV debate last week.

In a possible boon for the incoming government, EU commissioner for economic affairs Olli Rehn indicated that there was "room for maneouvre".

Kenny's recent visits have bolstered his image as a globetrotting statesman although his opponents dismissed it as a photo-opportunity and opinion polls suggest that despite a perceived lack of charisma, he is well on course to succeed Cowen as Taoiseach, or prime minister.

Dublin, AFP