AFTER what seems like a good few decades of build-up we’re finally going to polls tomorrow to put this whole Brexit matter to bed for good.

Or, more likely, not.

It seems a foregone conclusion that whichever side of the debate ultimately wins out is going to do so only by a very slim margin.

And, if the fallout from the Scottish referendum campaign is anything to go by, the losing side will take that as carte blanche to call for another bite of the cherry from the moment the result is announced.

So, as much as I’m sure we’d all be very happy never to hear the phrases ‘sovereignty’, ‘structural funding’ and ‘I want my country back’ again for the rest of our lives, we might be out of luck.

It wouldn’t be so bad if the entire campaign hadn’t descended into ridiculous farce weeks ago.

On Monday morning the BBC dedicated a good 10 minutes of breakfast news to what a Brexit would mean for Britain’s all-important strawberry industry – something we’ve all worried about, I’m sure.

And the cringeworthy sight of bandwagon-hopper Bob Geldof and gurning enthusiast Nigel Farage yelling at each other from boats on the Thames last week was surely one of the most embarrassing incidents in British history, matched only by that time a load of middle-aged men in matching blue jeans and white T-shirts got their hands on a tank and demanded the BBC give Jeremy Clarkson his job back.

With rubbish like this pushing the actual issues at hand to the sidelines it’s not hard to see why so many are thoroughly sick of the whole affair.

But there’s a serious point here – the endless back and forth over the whole ghastly affair is pushing other issues to the sidelines.

Watching proceedings in the Senedd yesterday it seemed as if no one could say more than a couple of words before attempting to use the issue at hand as an example of why the UK would be better off in or out of the EU.

Important though the EU is, there are other things going on in Wales right now.

Remember Tata steel? The tens of thousands of people who could be losing their jobs?

At least the M4 relief road project got a once-over in the Senedd yesterday.

These issues haven’t gone away, but you wouldn’t know it from political discussions in recent weeks.

Let’s hope tomorrow’s vote will mean the issues affecting people’s lives right now are brought back to the top of the agenda in Wales.

l Of course the EU hasn’t been the only thing preoccupying people in Wales over the past few weeks.

While I’m not terribly invested in the outcome of the Euros, aside from having drawn England, my home nation, in the office sweepstake, it’s hard not to be happy for Welsh fans getting to enjoy their team’s success in France.

It’s not unusual to see political figures at big sporting fixtures, their tickets presumably paid for out of our taxes, so seeing Carwyn Jones in France wasn’t a terrible surprise.

But newly-appointed leader of the house and chief whip Jane Hutt made an unusual comment in the Senedd yesterday when quizzed about the costs of the first minister’s trip across the Channel by Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies, saying “The people of Wales want the first minister to be there.”

All things considered, I suspect the people of Wales aren’t terribly bothered whether or not the first minister watches the match on his sofa in his pyjamas, and would probably rather be there themselves.

l Finally, after literally decades of discussion, a public inquiry into the M4 relief road has been announced to get under way in a few months’ time.

I, like so many others, get to enjoy the experience of driving back on forth along the M4 between Cardiff and Newport twice a day.

So I think I speak for everyone when I say “it’s about time”.