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Now this is a Euro2012 proposition we can get on board with... This was Andy Davies getting ready for the upcoming football tournament. Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland
fiscal compacted

Referendum roundup: Your last-minute information station

Campaigning on the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ side shut down at 2pm today. As you get your voting card ready for tomorrow’s poll, TheJournal.ie pushes aside the political point-scoring…

EVERY EVENING FOR the past two weeks, TheJournal.ie has been bringing you the latest news and campaign moves, squabbles and – hopefully – useful tidbits of information as we face into the 31 May Fiscal Compact referendum.

As this is the last evening before you go to the polls, we thought we would leave behind the dying stings of the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns – and failed High Court actions – and bring you the simple, clear facts that you need to make a decision.

Where will I vote?

Polling stations will be open tomorrow from 7am to 10pm. Your polling station will be listed on the card mailed to your home. You don’t actually need to bring this card with you – just photographic proof of identification, such as an in-date passport or driving licence – will be sufficient to claim your voting slip at the polling station.

What do I need to know?

We all got a little tired of emotional debates like this one and that one and this one, didn’t we?

So TheJournal.ie decided to ask YOU what you needed clarified about the actual text of the Fiscal Compact which you are being asked to ratify tomorrow. We took your most commonly-asked questions and put them to the Referendum Commission, the independent European Policy Centre think tank, a representative of the ‘No’ campaign and a representative of the ‘Yes’ campaign. We asked them to answer in as plain-speaking, non-politically inflammatory language as possible. THESE were their answers. We hope they help, even a little.

We also translated the Fiscal Compact into layman’s terms for your perusal (and possibly enjoyment – but we’re not promising anything).

What about the rest of it?

If you can’t get enough of referendum coverage, you should click HERE for all the thrills and spills since the referendum date was announced back at the end of March.

Can we really get away from referendum chat this evening?

Not on social media you can’t. It turns out that no watchdog – certainly not the Referendum Commission or the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland – has control over what the ‘No’ and ‘Yes’ campaigns can say on social media. The broadcast moratorium on coverage of the campaigns doesn’t apply to them in that case, apparently.

You are also likely to spot a poster or two on your way to the polling station. But how good/awful were this referendum campaign’s crop of billboards at getting their message across. Find an interesting analysis on that very subject here.

And if you want to stick your fingers in your eyes and ears entirely, we have put together a Referendum Free Zone for you to enjoy. Starting with this opus. Enjoy.

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