Election 24: Have your say on the issues that matter

After weeks of speculation, it is official - there is going to be a General Election on 29 November.

At RTÉ News, part of our job is to make sure that you, the voters, help decide what this election is about, rather than simply allowing parties, candidates, pundits, and journalists to dictate the agenda.

That is why over the next few weeks we want to know which issues matter most to you, the topics you need explained, and the questions you need us to ask.

There are more details on how you can have your voice heard below, but already for several months, many of you have been doing just that.

In August, with speculation swirling about an election date, we spoke to festival-goers at Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Co Laois.

Housing was the issue which was raised most often.

"Myself and my partner are planning to emigrate later this year because of the housing issue," Lawrence Jones from Co Kildare told us. "There's already a lost generation of people who have emigrated from Ireland."

Meanwhile Kyle Ronan from Co Meath highlighted the cost of living.

"I can't afford my rent. I can't afford my electricity bill. I can't afford my shopping," he said.

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A further reminder that housing is the number one issue for voters came when we visited Athlone in September.

When we asked people what age they thought they would be when they could afford a home of their own, the answers were revealing.

One young woman told us she had decided to take a job in Australia in order to save money to buy a house in Ireland.

Her mother said she had gone to the US to do the same thing three decades earlier, but the situation then "wasn't as bad (as it is now)."

Of course, people have been keen to highlight other issues such as climate change, health, education and immigration.

Earlier this week, we spoke to Maynooth University student Angelina Healy. "I'm half Lithuanian," she said. "And with everything that's going on, when I'm out and on the phone to my mam, I only speak in English because of it. As a woman, I don't feel safe already. And I know people who have been attacked for just speaking another language. I feel like no one knows what to do with immigration and how to stop all the hate."

Angelina told us she wants election candidates talk more broadly about immigration.

"The issue is we're always talking about the economic side - 'they're taking this and they're taking that'. They're not talking about the social side."

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Now, with campaigning officially under way, it is more important than ever that you keep helping to shape and inform our coverage.

You can send us an email to yournews@rte.ie with the election topics you want explained.

You can even suggest where we should go to hear about the issues that matter to you and your community.

You can also get in touch by sending us a message or leaving a comment to @rtenews on Instagram and TikTok.

There has been an awful lot of talk about this general election already - now we want you to have your say.