Inside the Bridge Shopping Centre in Tullamore, Simply Red’s Money’s Too Tight to Mention can be heard blaring from the speakers.
The 1985 song appears apt on this blustery morning in the Co Offaly town as shoppers note their increasing grocery, electricity and gas bills.
Among them is Brendan Doyle (62), a retired multitask assistant at the local hospital, who says his latest food shop for himself and his wife came to €137 and “the fridge is only half full”.
Doyle says he will be voting for Independent left-wing candidate Catherine Connolly on Friday as “she’s not a Government candidate”.
He would traditionally vote for Sinn Féin and would have liked if the party had run its own candidate.
“Let’s be honest, she’s [Connolly] the best of a bad lot,” he says.
“I would have liked more candidates, some more choice but I would not vote for any Government candidate.
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