FG cannot afford another own-goal like the leaders’ debates

The catchphrase of the General Election campaign to date has undoubtedly been that ‘It’s Fine Gael’s to lose’ ; Is that the case?

Does it stand up to scrutiny and if it does stand up, what are the likely pitfalls?

Firstly, it certainly seems to be the case that GE11 is indeed Fine Gael’s to lose, and that should be no surprise to anyone, as this has been the situation almost as far back as the bank guarantee decision of September 2008. In the period since then, we’ve seen a disastrous slide in the polls, to historically low levels, for Fianna Fáil on the back of the difficult decisions they’ve had to take, as they would like to suggest. A more objective analysis would trace the source of their downfall to the party’s disastrous handling of the economy, and of government in general, during their 13-year tenure of office, coupled with a near-pathological incapacity to communicate to the electorate-at-large the nuances and subtleties of those difficult decisions, with which we are all so personally familiar.