Some Analysis As The Composition Of The 34th Dáil Takes Shape.

Still between a rock and a hard place!

As the election result coagulates into its final form, it resembles the consensus following the three-way leaders’ debate. Most observers had the debate as a critical tentpole set-piece ahead of time. Yet, as a cagey and largely defensive affair from the three-party leaders, it appeared to reconfirm a tripartite stalemate yet again. Still between a rock and a hard place, then.

It now looks like the popular vote of the 2024 election for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael at 21.9% and 20.8%, respectively, will be very close to their 2020 tallies. Sinn Féin, at 19%, is down a substantial 5.5%, but given the party’s botched candidate strategy of inefficiently wasting surpluses in 2020, their final TD numbers will likely be in the range of the outgoing Dáil.

2024 has been a year dominated by elections across the globe More than 100 countries across the world, France, the UK, India, the US, and now Ireland (amongst others) have all gone to the polls. The overwhelming themes have been electorates punis…