Government drift on housing and immigration shifts political landscape after just one year

A year after voters renewed the Government’s mandate, political missteps and a deepening housing crisis have erased its early momentum

Clockwise from top left: Outgoing finance minister Paschal Donohoe, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, Independent TD Michael Lowry, and Tánaiste Simon Harris. Pictures: Sasko Lavrov

Twelve months after the general election, it might well be asked of the Government — where did it all go wrong? On November 29 last year, the people returned the main components of the outgoing administration. It was widely commented on at the time that the electorate looked at the opposition for something different but didn’t find what they were looking for.

Micheál Martin was considered the big winner, a comeback kid who had travelled a sometimes hard road since he had assumed the leadership months ahead of his party’s historic electoral disaster in 2011. “There is a very clear route back to government,” he said at the count centre at Nemo Rangers GAA Club.