Kilkenny is an issue-free zone

The three main parties are set to maintain their dominance of Kilkenny County Council after an election which has so far failed to produce any banana skins for the candidates.

While councillors in other counties face difficult questions about planned "superdumps" and other controversies, Kilkenny has virtually been an issue-free zone.

If one topic has captured the imagination of the electorate it is the decision of An Bord Pleanala to grant permission for a McDonald's restaurant in Patrick Street in the city, in the face of vigorous opposition from local residents, schoolteachers and councillors.

But as all political parties are united in condemning the decision, it cannot really be described as an election issue. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour are also united on another front; last July the parties signed up to an unusual agreement to share the county council chairmanship for the following six years.

So, regardless of the outcome next week, the county will have a Labour Party chairman to succeed Mr Phil Hogan TD of Fine Gael when the new council sits.

Mr Hogan is one of two big vote-getters whose performance in Kilkenny city will have a bearing on the overall outcome.

The other is Mr John McGuinness, the Fianna Fail TD, who is likely to top the poll and do enough to help his party to at least three of the seven seats in that area. Fine Gael will get two and Labour one, leaving the three parties to fight for the last.

If the big parties' monopoly of the council is to be broken, it is most likely to happen in Thomastown, where two independents, Mr Dixie Doyle and the well-known GAA referee, Mr Denis Rackard Coady, are doing well.

Another high-profile candidate, Mr Liam Aylward TD, of Fianna Fail, is running in the most predictable electoral area. He and two other sitting councillors, his party colleague, Mr Jimmy Brett, and Fine Gael's Mr Tom Maher, are safe bets to hold their seats.

The Piltown area has been reduced from seven seats to six, and Fine Gael is most likely to suffer. But one of its candidates, Mr John Paul Phelan (20), a student, may cause a surprise. Fianna Fail is sure of three seats here and is aiming for four.

In the five-seat Ballyragget area, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael expect to get two seats each.