Punch-and-Judy politics - It’s time for unity not vaudeville

EVEN at a time of spectacular figures and equally spectacular downfalls, Fianna Fáil’s foot soldiers, the squadrons of ard fheis hall-packers and the leaders of deputations of the disaffected off “to see the minister” would have been shocked by the deep anger reflected in the latest political opinion poll.

Backbenchers would have been shaken from their mildly pensive slumbers; some might have quietly checked their pension entitlements to see if they could afford not to return to the crowded, noisy classrooms they left behind all those distant years ago.

Even in a time of unprecedented figures any poll that puts Fine Gael (32%) 10 points ahead of Fianna Fáil (22%) is truly remarkable. Rubbing salt, lots and lots of salt, into the wound, Eamon Gilmore’s Labour Party (24%) got a higher approval rating than the Government. But then, as we are told, these are different times.