In Pictures: Voters and a pug cast their ballots in the Irish General Election

Turnout is expected to play a vital role in this year’s General Election – even the furry kind.

By contributor By PA Reporters
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Sonia Higgins, carrying her dog Chico, arrives to cast her vote in Ireland's General Election
Sonia Higgins, carrying her dog Chico, arrives to cast her vote in Ireland’s General Election (Brian Lawless/PA)

Polls opened at 7am on Friday for voters to decide who will form Ireland’s next government.

Some 174 seats across 43 constituencies in Ireland’s parliament, the Dail, are being contested.

The vote will close at 10pm with counting expected to start on Saturday morning.

A woman lifts up a young girl so she can put a vote in a ballot box
A young girl helps put a vote in the ballot box at St Anthony’s Boys’ School, Beechwood Park, Ballinlough, in Cork (Jacob King/PA)
A woman walks down a corridor with her pet pug under her arm
Sonia Higgins, with her pet pug named Chico, arrives to cast her vote at Deaf Village Ireland (DVI) on Navan Road, Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA)
A woman holds up an un-ticked ballot paper with her pet pug under her other arm
Ms Higgins holds up a ballot paper with Chico still under her other arm (Niall Carson/PA)