TODAY's election count will dominate programmes on each of the national radio stations, as well as RTE 1 television.
Election `97 comes on air on Radio 1 at 11 a.m. presented by Sean O'Rourke and Rodney Rice. There will be live coverage from the counts for all 41 constituencies and interviews with politicians. Apart from a one-hour "break" for a special edition of The News at One, Election `97 coverage will continue until the early hours of Sunday.
On Radio Ireland, they plan to start Radio Ireland Count at 9 a.m. and continue "until as long as it takes," according to the Head of News, Mr Conor Kavanagh.
Radio Ireland Count will be presented by Emily O'Reilly. Analysis of the results as they come in will be given by Mr Ted Nealon, Mr Muiris MacConghail and Mr John Stapleton of Limerick University. Political interviews will be conducted by Mark Costigan and light relief is promised by the journalist duo Paddy Murray and Liam Mackey. Relief for sports fans comes between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. with an hour of news and results.
Meanwhile, on RTE 1 television, Election `97 starts at 3.30 p.m. presented by John Bowman, Eamonn Lawlor and Brian Farrell. The programme will involve live coverage from more than half the count centres and will also cover breaking news. But TV coverage will undoubtedly be dominated by studio analysis.
Bowman et al will stay on air replacing all other programmes except The Nine O'Clock News - until 3 a.m. on Sunday. It will be back again at noon on Sunday breaking from 2 p.m. to 5.25 p.m. for the French tennis final but will be back until 6 p.m.
Ar la an chomhairealmh beidh tuairisceoiri Raidio na Gaeltachta ag tabhairt cuntais o gach ceann des na togha-cheantair do'n chead uair riamh. Sa stiuideo, beidh sainmhiniu da dheanamh ar na figiuiri ag paineal saineolaithe agus craoltoiri.
Aertel promises "virtually instantaneous" updates once counting starts. The main election page is 700, while pages 701 to 741 cover each of the constituencies giving profiles, figures and comparisons with previous elections.
And if all that's not enough, there's always the Internet. RTE's election website is htto://election 97. rte. ie