Spending cuts are funding FF’s five-year plan to buy your vote

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, I suppose I should say. It’s never really clear when the anniversary of a government is — the current one, for instance, wasn’t voted in by the Dáil until June last year. But we have just passed the first anniversary of their election.

In the Irish context, elections normally mean hours of telly-watching before you can be sure of the outcome. Sometimes, depending on what side you're on, your mood can change in the course of a count, from despair to elation or vice versa. Sometimes a handful of votes can decide the outcome in one case which I'll never forget, as few as four.

In the election of 2002 there was no real suspense. The only issue was whether Fianna Fáil would be able to get an overall majority, the only surprises being the dimensions of Fine Gael's loss and the PDs' revival. The election took place on a Friday, with the first electronic counts in our history being announced before the papers went to bed. The three constituencies involved were so strong for Fianna Fáil, and so bad for Fine Gael (with deputy leader Nora Owen losing her seat) that the newspapers could almost predict the overall result on Saturday morning before the full count even began.