Let’s not sacrifice the national interest by repeating blunders of the past

IT was nice to see a degree of personal warmth in the Dáil between Micheál Martin and Enda Kenny. We have been witnessing probably the greatest changes in the Dáil since 1932.

Back then our politics was still poisoned by civil war bitterness, and members of Fianna Fáil went into the Dáil that day with concealed guns, because they feared the outgoing government might try to stage a coup d’etat.

We have come a long way since then, but our politics remained poisoned for years, with the national interest often being recklessly sacrificed in the pursuit of party considerations. The parallel today would be if Fianna Fáil secretly encouraged our European colleagues not to renegotiate the bailout conditions with the new government, because this would show Fianna Fáil in a bad light.