Democratic Revolution in Ireland

Post date: Mar 09, 2011 11:51:59 AM

In what has been called ‘a democratic revolution at the ballot box,’ a seismic change in the Irish political landscape took place in a general election on February 25, 2011.

The dominant political party since 1932, Fianna Fáil, lost fifty-eight seats in a parliament of 166 and came back with a mere twenty deputies, while their partners in the last government, the Green Party, lost all of their six seats. The big victor was the Fine Gael Party (centre –right), which won twenty-five seats to bring their total to the highest ever at seventy-six, while the Labour Party (centre-left) won seventeen to bring their total to thirty-seven. Sinn Fein won fourteen seats (up by nine) and Others (chiefly Independents) secured nineteen (up by fourteen). There was widespread disillusionment with the outgoing government due to many factors, chiefly their management of the economy since 2000, the bail-out of the banks, a big fiscal deficit arising from the collapse of the construction and personal debt bubbles, pay reductions, tax increases and a large increase in unemployment.

The new government of Fine Gael and Labour is led by Enda Kenny, a genial fifty-nine year old Mayo man (and a firm believer in physical fitness), and the first person from the West of Ireland to be elected Taoiseach (Prime Minister). There are almost Obama-like expectations for the new leader and his government to deal quickly with the major problems facing this country. All of the difficulties cannot be resolved in the short term, but it is expected that the new government will quickly create the conditions leading to their resolution.

The Irish people are expecting a new dawn. The new Irish leader is to meet President Obama in the White House on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, the feast day of Ireland’s national apostle.