ieExplains: What happens when Simon Harris calls the election?
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On your marks... The general election will take place on November 29, Taoiseach Simon Harris has confirmed.
The election process will kick start as soon as Mr Harris travels to Áras an Uachtaráin to request that President Michael D Higgins dissolve the Dáil. This will take place on Friday. Once this happens, the clock starts ticking and an election must be held within 30 days.
On the same day, the clerk of the Dáil issues a writ to each constituency instructing them to hold an election. The Minister for Housing, Darragh O'Brien, will then appoint the polling day. Mr Harris has said it is his intention that this will take place on November 29.
The polling day has to be between 18 and 25 days after the writ has been issued.
No new political parties can be added to the Register of Political Parties once the writ has been issued. From this first day, election posters are allowed to be put up but they must be taken down within seven days of polling day.
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An important date for voters to note is two days after the Dáil is dissolved as this is the deadline for application for postal or special voting. The deadline to register or amend your details on the register of electors is 15 days before polling day excluding Sundays, Good Friday and public holidays.
Notice of election — a public notice of the times and arrangements for receiving candidate nominations — must be issued no later than day four after Mr Harris goes to the Áras.
From 10am on day five, candidates can nominate themselves or be nominated by a Dáil elector for their constituency or political party. Candidates can continue to be nominated until noon on the seventh day after the Dáíl is dissolved.
Potential candidates can withdraw their candidacy within 24 hours of the nomination deadline. After a minimum of three weeks and a maximum of four weeks — excluding Sundays and bank holidays — the country will go to the polls.
The following day, the boxes will be opened, the votes will be counted and the will of the people revealed. This general election will see an additional 14 TDs elected bringing the total to 174 making it the largest Dáil in Irish history.
As a result, a party will need a majority of 88 in order to form a government. Where no one party has a majority of TDs, a number of different parties can come together to form a coalition which is what we currently have with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party.
Forming a coalition can be a complicated and protracted process and there is no time limit to how long it can take.
In 2016, it took 70 days to form a government and resulted in a minority Fine Gael government, with Fianna Fáil agreeing to a confidence and supply arrangement.
If there comes a point where no government can be formed, the acting Taoiseach may return to the Áras and request the President once again dissolve the Dáil and call another election.
Once a government is formed, the Taoiseach — generally, this is the leader of the largest party — will nominate a Tánaiste and a cabinet of ministers. Junior ministers are also appointed as well as an Attorney General who will advise the Government on legal issues.