Fianna Fail may have to cast its lonely eyes to its right to save itself and Ireland
The most significant fallout from the presidential vote may not in time be seen as the swing to the left, but the yawning vacuum to the right
It was Brendan Behan who said the first item on the agenda for any Irish republican meeting was always the split.
In the case of the dream of a “United Irish Left Alliance” - one that might end the duopoly of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael government - it usually doesn’t even take that long.
Before the gathering is even called to order some gobdaw will come along to spook the horses and frighten curious onlookers drifting in from the centre.
Enter Mick Wallace.
Peacenik Mick took just hours to shatter the illusion of the United Left that had briefly apparated around Catherine Connolly’s landslide election victory.
While Mary Lou McDonald was daring to dream again of the Taoiseach’s office, Mick was posting AI images of a balaclava-clad President Connolly toting an AK47.
And before you could say “American imperialist overlords” the fanciful notion that the assembled brains trust of the Irish left could sit together around a cabinet table and govern like grown-ups was slipping through your fingers again.
The Connolly campaign tried to hide Mick and Clare Daly behind the far more agreeable figure of Maureen O’Sullivan whenever the issue of their meeting with a Syrian warlord was brought up.
But as soon as the dust settled on the tallies, Mick was back out of his box letting off a few rounds to remind the would-be leaders of the alliance that the far left hadn’t gone away.
Paul Murphy too declared ownership of the election win by announcing it was a vote against the removal of the triple lock, which allows among other things for a Russian veto on Irish peacekeeping operations.
Like Connolly herself before them, Mick and Paul are furiously decrying NATO and the EU as the villains of a new era of European militarisation.
They see no eventuality where the continent might need a deterrent or the capacity to defend the things it cherishes from Vladimir Putin.
Much like Donald Trump, who rebranded his defence secretary as minister for war, they confuse the two concepts.
So squaring the circle of Ireland’s commitment to Europe as the leader of a United Left coalition would be the first obstacle if Mary Lou is to dodge Behan’s dreaded split.
That’s before the meeting could even move to things like corporation tax, budgets, borders and visiting the White House every St Patrick’s Day.
Perhaps the one thing the left can coalesce around is the shared reclaiming of a tricolour balaclava as its agreed symbol.
The motif started by Belfast rappers Kneecap seems inseparable now from every left-wing cause, from the housing crisis to Palestine, not to mention Mick Wallace’s juvenile meme content.
Given the far right has claimed the tricolour, at least it’s a rallying point of sorts, like an Irish socialist MAGA hat.
While the alliance of the left predictably ties itself in knots, the big problem for the centre ground won’t be NATO but NOTA – ‘None of the Above’.
It’s the one item on the agenda above all others that should focus Fianna Fail minds particularly.
The most significant fallout from the presidential vote may not in time be seen as the swing to the left, but the yawning vacuum to the right which saw a surge of spoiled votes.
It’s an alarm that is furiously flashing red on the dashboard of Ireland’s democracy.
The centre has neglected a swathe of the voting public and opened a pathway for the rise of a populist figure to its right flank.
It must already be dawning on some in the Fianna Fail grassroots that many of them are from its old gene pool mix that have turned their lonely eyes to independents and elsewhere.
If the party glances to its right it will see enough familiar faces who once shared its DNA on social conservatism, Catholicism and its old brand of Republican nationalism.
A return to that old time religion, mixed with an emerging tougher immigration stance and jumping on the bandwagon of a burgeoning Irish cultural revival could be the party’s remaining route to salvation.
It might also be the only way to keep the country out of the clutches of the AI clowns to the far left and the more dangerous jokers to the right.
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