Government in freefall because it made ordinary people suffer first

IT’S apocalypse now.

Imagine a Dáil with 37 Fianna Fáil TDs — down 40 on where they are today. There is no Fianna Fáil TD to represent a Dublin constituency — Bertie Ahern has lost his seat and so has Finance Minister Brian Lenihan. All over the country, seats have tumbled in a bloodbath of unimaginable proportions.

Of the existing Fianna Fáil members of the cabinet, five have gone and the party is in total disarray. Well-known names bow out of politics right around the country — Dick Roche, Noel O’Flynn, Martin Mansergh, Seán Haughey, Barry Andrews. All of them, and many more, face the ruin of their careers. There has never been anything like it in Irish political history.