Frustrated Irish voters go to polls to pick their next PM

DUBLIN — Irish voters are choosing their next prime minister in an election where frustration with economic austerity and a housing crisis have fueled the rise of Sinn Fein — still shunned by the political establishment because of its links to the IRA.

Opinion polls showed Sinn Fein in a virtual tie with the parties that have dominated Irish politics since independence — Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael and the opposition Fianna Fail.

Support for Sinn Fein, which is committed to reunification of Ireland, threatens the country’s political equilibrium even though the party is unlikely to form the next government because Fine Gael and Fianna Fail refuse to work with it. The rise has prompted the other parties to remind voters of Sinn Fein’s past ties to violence.