Fianna Fáil, The Beast That Won't Die!

Never underestimate the power of resilience in politics.

There’s an old Chinese proverb: If you sit by the river for long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by. You’d be sitting and waiting by the Liffey or Lee for a long time waiting for Fianna Fáil to float by.

With Fianna Fáil on course to win the most seats in the General Election, it is remarkable to take a step back and appreciate the stunning resilience of what Political Scientists have called Ireland’s natural governing party.

In the three-way leader’s debate, Simon Harris deliberately drew attention to this weekend being the fourteenth anniversary of the arrival of the Troika, briefcases of doom in hand, to Ireland. Back then, this humble scribe had barely set up sticks in Canada’s largest city, Toronto, just six weeks earlier. I was one of many recent graduates ferreted out of Ireland at that time. Young people jumped on planes headed in all directions to escape the pervasive doom and gloom and even the guilt of likely being one more adding to the welfare burden of a …