Nation comes before the individual

For me, Fianna Fáil was a way I could continue my national service after I left the Defence Forces.

I knew nothing of politics but read that FF was a party that supposedly represented everyone on this island, not just the working classes or the rich or only the middle classes, but everyone.

The idea being that if you could unite all the people of Ireland, regardless of background, behind a common purpose of creating a strong nation built on solid social principles such as equality, liberty and opportunity, that not only would the economic benefits flow from that but so, too, would the success of Ireland and its people. I liked that idea.