Tolls and votes

Since we've been wondering what it would take to disrupt the hugely inertial Fianna Fail vote in an increasingly likely Irish general election this year, it was hard not to notice the Liberal Democrats surprising by-election win in Scotland:

Willie Rennie overturned a Labour majority of 11,000 to win the Westminster seat in Dunfermline and Fife West by 1,800 votes.

Amongst the reasons why the presence of Chancellor Gordon Brown in the Labour campaign seems not to have been effective:

Mr Brown had campaigned on local issues, including controversy over tolls on the Forth Road Bridge.

Note that tolls are an issue in key constituencies in and around Dublin. More links and commentary on the by-election from Backword.