State Papers - 1977: Archives of 30 years ago gloss over vital political events

THE year 1977 was not a great one from the standpoint of the state papers. Historically, the most important events were related to that year’s general election. As the civil servants were not formally involved, the elections were glossed over in the state papers.

Neither is there mention of Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave’s famous denunciation “blow-ins” in his address to the Fine Gael ard fheis, nor of the Fianna Fáil election manifesto, which not only promised to do away with rates on domestic dwellings but also to abolish motor tax on private vehicles.

Pundits were confidently predicting the “Tullymander”, the drastic constituency revisions drawn up by Jim Tully of the Labour Party, would ensure the return of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition, but once Fianna Fáil got more than 50% of the vote, it had the reverse impact and led to the return of Fianna Fáil with the largest majority since the civil war.