Labour tries to take Fine Gael votes with last-minute leaflet

Labour has mounted an eve- of-election effort to take votes from its Coalition partners in Fine Gael, in a battle for the last European Parliament seat in Dublin.

After a push on Labour candidate Emer Costello’s native northside – where the party’s main resources are being focused in the last few days – the junior Coalition partner dropped 30,000 leaflets on the south of the city last night.

In a move that will be viewed dimly in Fine Gael, the leaflet quotes Ms Costello as saying: "My Coalition colleague, Brian Hayes, is topping the poll and is clearly going to be elected."

Ms Costello asks for a first preference vote, and the move will be seen as an attack by Labour on its senior partner in Government.

The leaflet adds that the last seat in the three-seat constituency is going to be a battle, and has a graphic of a horse race. The graphic shows a blue coloured Fine Gael horse past the post and way out in front, followed by a green Sinn Féin horse, also past the post but farther behind. It then shows the Fianna Fail and Labour horses coming up on the finish line, almost neck and neck, but with Fianna Fáil a nose ahead, with the Greens' horse following closely behind.

Northside candidate Earlier this week, some 40,000 different leaflets were distributed on the northside pushing Ms Costello as the MEP for that side of the city.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said repeatedly this week that the last Dublin seat will be a battle between Ms Costello and Fianna Fáil's Mary Fitzpatrick. Ms Costello and Ms Fitzpatrick are both northside-based, and transfers between the pair could be crucial in seeing one over the line.

During last year’s Meath East byelection campaign, Labour distributed a last-minute leaflet featuring a personalised attack on Taoiseach Enda Kenny.