Irish Examiner View: Election 2020 - Delivering change now the priority

The electorate has, or at least a very significant proportion of it, again shown it has a greater appetite for change, a greater appreciation of the urgent need to reorder fundamentals than too many politicians. How that demand manifests itself, as the last seats of election 2020 — the first one at least — remain in play, has become the only question of any real importance.

Though the surge to Sinn Féin, many years in the making, has been correctly described as seismic how the old, almost imperial, shibboleths respond may be even more so. Should they finally end a century of contrived differences, based more on outdated social affectations than political philosophies, then that might trump Sinn Féin’s undeniable achievements. A coalition of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, one, to borrow a phrase, based on parity of esteem would be belated recognition that all is changed forever. Such a departure, one representing around half of the electorate, would also reflect what is happening and delivering stability in many European countries. It would, and in time this may the most significant argument, embrace the reality that ever-more fragmented politics neutralise once-large parties unwilling to compromise so they might remain relevant. If, however, such a marriage led to continuity rather than real change it would be pointless. That Darwinian truth — change or die — applies.