It’s almost black and white — old brigade leading the way

YOU would think that the current crop of political party yahoos would have got their act together a bit more.

Unlike sympathisers of the Wolfe Tones who made A Nation Once Again the world’s most popular song in a BBC poll, party loyalists have let down their leaders badly in an online poll to find Ireland’s greatest politician.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern languishes 59th with his opposition counterparts not faring much better. Enda Kenny of Fine Gael is 28th and Pat Rabbitte a lowly 39th.

The poll, on p45.net, seems to have attracted quite a few learned political historians among the few thousand who have cast their vote.

The surprising front runner is the Dáil’s first female minister Constance Markievicz, who is slugging it out at the top with Seán Lemass and Douglas Hyde.

Of the current political crop former Labour party leader Ruairí Quinn fared best, in seventh position.

But it is historical figures who dominate.

Michael Collins, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, Garret FitzGerald, WT Cosgrave and John A Costello are all in the top 10. In fact, there is a decidedly Fine Gael bias at the top of the poll.

Three former Taoisigh, Eamon de Valera, Jack Lynch and Charles Haughey, are surprisingly absent from the top 25.

Albert Reynolds is 18th.

Tongue in cheek, and betraying its disapproval of modern Irish politics, the site says it is running the poll “because we believe Irish politicians today are but a shallow facsimile of the giants of the past. Face it, Bertie Ahern is no Michael Collins or Liam Neeson”.

Elsewhere, it describes the poll as “Ireland’s first international, online, ongoing and totally riggable general election”.

Managing director Paul Clerkin says he wants users to rate politicians on ability “not their charm or good looks”.

He said he wouldn’t be surprised if there were secret campaigns to advance politicians in the coming weeks.