Fine Gael is in a spot of bother with one section of the electorate – after their spokeswoman on equality issues again slammed same sex marriages.

Blond bombshell Creighton may be a pin-up star of the Fine Gael election campaign but she’s causing a bit of a problem for the Blueshirts hopes of a pink vote on Friday.

Creighton is in hot water over her latest remarks on gay marriage and her opposition to same sex unions.

The latest Lucinda Twitter is at the heart of the row after she wrote: “I think marriage is primarily about children, main purpose being to propagate & create environment for children to grow up.

“I think civil partnership should ensure gay couples r treated fairly and justly re tax inheritance etc & recognition by the State But marriage is different.”

Reacting to a deluge of angry responses on various social networking sites, Fine Gael distanced itself from Creighton’s remarks and claimed they were ‘personal’.

Their prospective coalition partners in the Labour Party are none too pleased with their potential bed fellow however.

Labour intends to hold a constitutional referendum on granting marriage equality to same sex couples, a view at clear loggerheads with Creighton’s.

“The stereotypical view she is displaying shows she is not suited to the job and is not serious about equality, she should be removed by Enda Kenny” said the Labour Party’s equality spokeswoman Kathleen Lynch.

Spokeswoman for gay rights group Noise, Hazel Cullen said: “Ms Creighton’s attitude to marriage is frankly bizarre in 2011.

“If marriage is about procreation then should older people be banned from getting married, or should couples who experience fertility trouble have their marriages rendered void?

“There are many gay couples in Ireland lovingly raising children and Lucinda Creighton is ignoring them and their rights.”

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If you get it wrong, you can get it right next time – but not if your name is Enda Kenny.

The Fine Gael leader has pledged not to seek a return to office if he is a failure as Taoiseach first time around.

Kenny is a certainty to take charge of the country after Friday’s general election, either in charge of a single party government with the support of Independents or at the head of a Fine Gael-Labour coalition.

He won’t seek a second term in office however if Fine Gael’s five point plan doesn’t turn the economy around.

“I will not seek a second term in office if I fail in the job of Taoiseach,” declared Kenny as electioneering wound down on Thursday.

The Mayo man also refused to rule out a single-party Fine Gael government despite indications in the opinion polls that he will need the support of Labour.

“We set out our stall before this election as being a party that was paddling our own canoe here without any platform with any other party and that remains through to this election,” said Kenny.

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God bless optimism – Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin believes his party can win a seat in each and every one of the 43 Dail constituencies in Friday’s General Election.

The opinion polls state otherwise – Fianna Fail average less than 20 seats in most polls – but Martin was sticking to his guns in an interview with Thursday’s Irish Independent.

“Having travelled the country, there’s a strong support structure across the country,” claimed Martin.
“People are going to change from election to election in quite substantial numbers. Fine Gael had their nadir in 2002, they went so low there was only one way to come - back up.

“I’m very confident we have the capacity to rebound.”

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Enda Kenny is the most talked about leader on Twitter with Gerry Adams second, Eamon Gilmore third, Micheal Martin fourth and John Gormley  a distant fifth.

An analysis of 20,665 tweets relating to the party leaders showed over 50% referred to Kenny with Adams on 23%, Gilmore on 9%, Martin on 8% and Gormley last on 6%.

Sentiment towards Kenny and Martin is largely negative, towards Adams and Gormley it is slightly negative and towards Gilmore it is neutral.

Kenny generated over 3,000 Tweets on Wednesday, the troubled Lucinda Creighton came in second on 1.409 and youngster Dylan Haskins, running as an independent in Dublin and just 23, came in fifth.

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The young people of Ireland intend to vote on their future on Friday according to a poll from the website www.thespunout.ie which predicts that only 6% of voters not going to exercise their democratic right.
Sinn Fein emerged as the most popular party amongst the youngsters polled with 32% of the vote. Labour were next on 17%, Fine Gael came in with 16% support and Fianna Fail managed a paltry 6%.
Even the United Left Alliance polled more than that with 8% support amongst the nation’s youth. The Greens recorded just 3%.

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Cute move by outgoing Minister Eamon O Cuiv whose English name will appear on the ballot papers as Cuiv – and surnames beginning with C appear further up the paper than those beginning with O!
He’s now fourth from the top of the ballot paper in Galway West as opposed to fourth from the bottom but insists it is all above board and normal.

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The Greens proved gullible when photographers persuaded party leader John Gormley and a number of his candidates to pose for a photograph on Grafton Street – in front of a shop window plastered with posters which read ‘Closing down –final week in business’. Only in Ireland ……

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Dail wannabe Catherine Yore, a Councilor running for Fine Gael in Meath West, has been voted the ‘hottest’ candidate in the General Election in a poll amongst 18 to 25 year-olds for the Ladbrokes betting site. Fianna Fail’s Louth candidate James Carroll was second in the poll.

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An immigrant running in Dublin West clearly has no understanding of traditional Irish politics – Clement Esebamen has based his campaign on a pledge to offer ‘humility and competence’ in Dail Eireann. Those two values have no place in Irish politics!

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A total of 566 candidates will seek election to the Dail tomorrow – when almost 50,000 new voters are entitled to vote for the first time. The total electorate is now close to 3.2million across the 43 constituencies

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Journalists attending press conferences at Labour headquarters in Dublin have helped themselves to mugs emblazoned with the slogan ‘Gilmore For Taoiseach’. They may have an Ebay value very soon!