Séamas O'Reilly: Half of Irish voters trust the people behind our problems to solve them

"“It’s simple”, I say, “it’s like how if you praise an arsonist enough, he’ll eventually become a fireman. It’ll all work out in the end”. If this seems strange, please be assured that it is."

Leader of Fianna Fail, Micheal Martin (left) and leader of Fine Gael, Simon Harris during the General Election leaders' debate at RTE studios in Montrose, Dublin.

Trying to explain last week’s election to people here in England has been tricky. For one thing, I’ve had to bring it up myself each time. 

Unlike with the US election last month, there were not — from Hartlepool to Hull — political junkies eyeing up the charts and maps of Cork North West and Longford-Westmeath.