Days before Ireland's general election on Friday, Mary Lou McDonald, president of the pro-Irish unity party Sinn Fein, says that "momentum" is growing among the public to elect a Sinn Fein-led government for the first time since Ireland gained independence from Britain in 1921. Sinn Fein's support has grown in recent polls as vote day approaches, with many young voters siding with the party over its pledges to tackle Ireland's entrenched housing supply crisis. Older voters are more sceptical, pointing to Sinn Fein's historical links to the paramilitary IRA group in Northern Ireland during the decades-long Troubles conflict in the UK region. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES