Terry Prone: FF revealed to be a shapeless monolith as persistence wins the day

There's a lesson in the contrasting fortunes of Ivana Bacik and Fianna Fáil, which is struggling to find a relevant identity

Ireland's newest TD, Senator Ivana Bacik, with Labour leader Alan Kelly TD and other supporters at the RDS in Dublin on Friday after she won the Dublin Bay South by-election. Picture: Stephen Collins

Do you remember Incy Wincy Spider from the children’s rhyme? Incy Wincy was climbing up the drainpipe when “down came the rain and washed the spider out”. Then out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and Incy Wincy Spider started up the drainpipe again. 

The Dublin Bay South by-election winner has much in common with Incy Wincy.  Being a failed contender for the Dáil in one election after another was like being sluiced out of the drainpipe repeatedly. But as soon as another opportunity presented itself, Ivana Bacik took it. And this time she made it to the top — literally.