Dammit, Galway West is being recounted! Before we even had a first count!!! Because of that FF table collapse perhaps? Shouldn’t have laughed…
Exciting things happening all around the country though. The socialists are back – Joe Higgins was elected, and this time he won’t be alone in the Dáil. The United Left Alliance will take at least four and possibly six seats. Combine that with Labour’s best-ever showing, easily outstripping the ‘Spring Tide’ of 1992, and there will be something like 45 seats on the left. It’s not a revolution, but it is a new ball game.
Bad news: it seems certain that Lucinda Creighton will be elected. She’s rapidly becoming a figure of hate among the young and liberal as she’s against Gay marriage. That would not be so surprising in Irish politics, except for the fact that she’s Fine Gael’s spokesperson on equality…
That’s the sort of government we’re getting folks. Even their equality spokesperson is against, you know, actual equality. The dragon may have been slain, but we will continue to be probably the most unequal society in Western Europe for some time to come.