Taoiseach confirms election will take place on November 29
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After months of speculation the Taoiseach has confirmed that the general election will be held on November 29.
On Friday, Simon Harris will seek a dissolution of the Dáil from President Michael D Higgins after he returns from a meeting of EU leaders.
European heads of state are expected to discuss the fallout from the US election US presidential election and the implications a Trump presidency might have on Europe when they meet in Budapest on Thursday and Friday.
It is expected that after making a short announcement in Government Building the Taoiseach will travel to Arás an Uachtaráin on Friday afternoon which he must do under the Constitution.
A short three-week election campaign will then kick off on Friday evening.
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Sources within the current coalition are also hoping that a new Government could be in place as early as mid-January, if voters turn out to support the return of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to power.
The Dáil is expected to reconvene on December 18, however, the main political parties do not anticipate that any agreement on a programme for government that would facilitate the appointment of a new Taoiseach would be agreed by this date.
The Finance Bill passed through the Seanad on Wednesday evening, paving the way for the Taoiseach to call a general election.
Confirming the date of the poll, Mr Harris said: "I'm looking forward to the weeks ahead and asking the people of Ireland for a mandate.
Mr Harris said it was important to announce the election in a way “that was respectful to the budgetary process”.
“We wanted to get the Finance Bill passed, it’s important that we underpin the budget. We don’t want to be knocking on people’s doors until we have tax cuts actually passed into law."
"I think we’re now ready to put our case to the people and I very much look forward to putting my case to the people in the weeks ahead," he told RTÉ news.
Both the Government and opposition have been on a election footing since the end of the summer and parties are expected to begin publishing manifestos and policy documents from early next week. Within Fine Gael there has been some suggestion that Mr Harris was "forced" to announce the date of the election after Tánaiste Micheál Martin told Virgin Media that the Dáil would be dissolved on Friday.
A party source said that the coalition parties would be "uneasy" side by side over the coming weeks as the coalition parties look to win seats at each other's expense.
A Fianna Fáil TD said that there would, however, be "very few niceties" in the campaign between the coalition parties, saying that there had been "some issue" taken with recent newspaper briefings about the mood of Mr Martin.
On justice, Sinn Féin are likely to put forward proposals around the establishment of a second Garda training college, as part of efforts to boost recruitment into the force.
Party sources have indicated that this would be located in Dublin, allowing trainee Gardaí living in the city to be trained up without needing to travel down to Tipperary.
Meanwhile, the Green Party are mulling over supports to allow for the establishment of a factory for the construction of modular buildings.
One TD said that doing so would allow for quicker building of new houses, while also reducing the carbon emitted on building sites across the country.