General election 2011 - Anger must be put aside after vote

AS we enter the final hours of what has been a peculiar, low-energy and fairly constrained election campaign it might just be time to look beyond the weekend’s anticipated excitements to try to separate what can be achieved from the unattainable.

For Fianna Fáil it seems they must prepare for a period of relative silence, reflection and rebuilding on the opposition benches. Unless, of course, they are prepared to consider the option that bordered on sacrilege for all of their predecessors.

Though it may be chastening — justly so — for a party so used to having decisive influence and access at every level of society it is for the best. The party, much less the country, could not endure another decade like the last. That so many senior Fianna Fáil figures have decided to call an end to their political careers before this election suggests that there is a less bombastic mood in the party and that a new reality may have dawned.