Serious soul searching needed for FF to escape the political wilderness

GREATEST misnomer of the election was of any outright winner.

Unlike the Spring Tide of 1992 or Fitzgerald crusade in 1981/2, on this occasion all opposition parties scored historic successes. FG, Labour, and SF achieved unprecedented heights, while random independents and left-wing groups reaped whirlwind victories. No single strategy gained the day. This was a default election, whereby almost half a million voters turned on Fianna Fáil. The magnitude of FF losses was the only singular story of election counts.

FF endured an earthquake. The fault lines ended up with no Dáil representation in the counties of Longford, Meath, Wicklow, Carlow, Kildare, Louth, Kerry, Tipperary, Waterford, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim. City representation in regional urban centres of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway is virtually a wasteland of FF councillors and TDs. They face the absence of a frontline constituency service of clientelism across the country. Constituents with problems will be knocking on other politicians’ doors for help, thereby consolidating their positions. Party support maintained on greasing wheels is no longer possible. FF’s core function and attraction — being in government — is redundant.