Political web logs are in their relative infancy in Ireland, but an audible buzz surrounds the impact they could have on this election. For months now, political posters have been doctored online, placing Bertie Ahern in poses from David Hasslehoff to Star Wars, while YouTube has been building a category of vaguely humourous montages lampooning both the government and the opposition. But as 24 May draws closer, things are getting a little more serious, with real analysis, information and comment replacing some of the dafter gags.

IrishElection. com, the winner of 2007's Irish Blog Award for best political blog and best news and current affairs blog, reports a threefold increase in visitors to its site since the election was annouced last Sunday. "We're getting 6,000 hits an evening, " the site's Cian O'Flaherty told the Sunday Tribune. "That sort of momentum took me by surprise. I think it's giving the whole election a new dynamic for people who have more than a passing interest. All of a sudden, they can have their thoughts printed, and even if just one person leaves a comment, then you become involved in a discussion."

Humour is obviously a large part of any blogger's observations, and no one does it as well as Swearing Lady (http: //arseendofireland. blogs pot. com). Sweary writes: "I'll be busy buzzing up and down to Cark in the next couple of days. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for the best election posters on the road. My favourite ones have tyre tracks on them. My least favourite ones have the PDs' vaguely threatening 'Don't Throw It All Away (Or We'll Nut You, You Ungrateful Drugged-Up Socialist)" printed under the head of the balding, gurning local candidate.

(Why are the PDs always balding? And don't be telling me that Mary Harney's hair is real. )" And there's also the twisted manifesto of Twenty Major, who recently secured a book deal on the back of his expletive-riddled blog posts.

"Vote for us. We'll get tax rebates for people who recycle more and get more bus lanes and invent non-polluting fuels and fill the canal with spring water, " he claims the Greens say. And as for the PDs: "Vote for us. There's really no good reason why you should, but we like to put across an image of intellectual superiority and you can be intellectually superior if you mark our card. We even have the celebrity candidate of the election. Yes, that's right. That bloke who played piano on The Late Late Toy Show. Whatever his name is."

Elsewhere, United Irelander writes: "Can Fianna Fail make it to the election without another scandal? Will Michael McDowell make any more Nazi references? How many drinks will Martin Ferris have over the next few weeks? Are we really going to end up with a Taoiseach from Mayo?"

Rolling satirical news blog Blogorrah has transformed into an online visual Scrap Saturday of election analysis.

Its coverage . . . complete with a logo by Nat King Coleslaw, creator of political photoshop treasure-trove The Snackbox Diaries . . . revolves around mining dodgy photo opportunities throughout the campaign.

Bertie Ahern, aka 'Cheeky Little Divil', and 'The Enda' come under regular fire.

The bulk of the site's political content stems from its access to press photographers' daily portfolios and dedicated photoshoppers (who transformed the wording on a road sign held by Michael McDowell at a photo op from 'We'll Build The Roads' to 'We'll Dig Your Graves'.

Of course, you can always go straight to the horse's mouth. Dozens of politicians are now blogging in order to reach a wider vote base. For veteran bloggers such as the Greens' Ciaran Cuffe, this means up-to-the-minute accounts of his canvassing activities. But being too open does have its dangers. The most interesting entry on Labour candidate Dominic Hannigan's blog of late was his observation that bird droppings had landed on his head twice in 10 days, a post quickly lampooned by Blogorrah.

Meanwhile, blogs are picking up on stories overlooked elsewhere, with the advantage of publishing this information immediately or as 'live blogging': "There was a story today [Wednesday] on a couple of blogs about a protest involving schoolchildren outside the Taoiseach's constituency office that would never have got picked up elsewhere, " said Cian O'Flaherty.

"These are all fragments of narratives on local levels, and Irish politics is so fragmented and so local that Irish bloggers are getting a chance to voice these things. It's not in competition with traditional journalism and traditional media. It is in fact complementary to it."

THIS WEEK, YOU SHOULD GOOGLE?
Bertie Ahern in Dragon's Den on YouTube? Lucinda Creighton's online election game? Political Thicko on YouTube? Blogorrah's 'meet the press officers' series