Reform or decline are our options - Threats and lessons in 2016

Thirteen years ago, when he became leader of Fine Gael, Enda Kenny was derided as an inarticulate, rosy-cheeked culchie who would crumble under the pressure of political leadership.

Some opponents, as perceptive as the rest of us, suggested he would preside over his party’s obsequies, that he was more an in-house undertaker than the leader who would rejuvenate an unloved, marginalised party.

Today, he seems set to make history by being the first Fine Gael taoiseach to be re-elected — and even if he is not, his record shows he was grossly underrated. His record shows how foolish it is to dismiss possibilities because they do not chime with our world view, with our half-formed, wishful expectations. That is a lesson we should hold close as we edge towards 2016 because there will certainly be one occasion when our more or less European, centrist, liberal views will be deeply challenged. There may be two.