The date of the Irish Presidential election has, of course, been announced for 27th October, which is a Thursday. I doubt at this point that the date announced will be changed. The situation in placing this election on such a day is not the same context as that for a General Election, as in this case voters prefer to cast their ballot in their local, home constituency. With the Presidential election, there is no need for voters living away from home midweek to travel in order to vote as this localised element is not relevant. The same goes for the three anticipated referendum votes to be held on the same date.
On this basis, efforts can be promoted to encourage voters to be able to cast ballots in the location where they are going to be present on Thursday 27th October. There is a particular aspect pertaining for this with respect to college students, so obviously these should be encouraged to enroll in supplementary registers in advance of the date. An advertising campaign should actively promote this. In addition, one good proposal would be to have actual polling stations on university campuses, where students can register in advance in order to cast their votes there. Indeed, if this approach were to be adopted, it many even lead to a higher-than-typical turnout from the student population than would typically be the case for a General Election, as voting on campus may be much more convenient than travelling home in order to do the same.
