Irish Times

Dear old Michael D. Higgins it is, then. A social liberal? So was Mary Robinson. But these things are not really up to the President.

The Irish Labour Party has always been funded by trade unions which exist throughout these Islands and are headquartered in Britain, and in Conor Cruise O’Brien it returned to the Dáil probably the only full-blown Unionist ever to sit in it. As a Minister, he would baffle hostile TDs my answering their questions with a mellifluous flow of Irish.

So much for all the fuss about Martin McGuinness, David Norris and Dana. Seán Gallagher’s 28.5% of the first preference vote was historically very bad for a Fianna Fáil candidate, which was what he was in all but name. But since everyone knew that, it actually amounted to a respectable showing this year, indicating that there is life in the old dog yet.

By contrast, Gay Mitchell’s 6.4% is an unmitigated disaster for Fine Gael. That, more than anything, is the big story of this election.