Little to seduce voters as FF ditches auction politics

FIANNA FÁIL pre-election manifestos have always been full of razzmatazz, laden with plum promises and financial inducements to voters.

Jack Lynch’s infamous “giveaway manifesto” of 1977 rewarded his party with the biggest Dáil majority of any party in the history of the state with 84 seats. But it has gone down as partly leading to the devastating fiscal crisis of the 1980s.

And as recently as 2007, the party’s manifesto was full of headline grabbing pledges to divert attention away from the controversy surrounding the personal finances of the then leader, Bertie Ahern.