Finally the election (or most of it) is over. The ballot papers are nearly all counted and while there are still 12 or so TDs to be decided in a few constituencies, we know that the new Taoiseach will be Enda Kenny and that he most likely will form a coalition with Labour.
The Fine Gael win was impressive, but Labour’s and Sinn Fein’s many seats in the Dail mean that Ireland moved to the left and I am not too impressed by that. I prefer a center/liberal/social society, but not a socialist society.
Fianna Fail’s loss was impressive as well, but look at it this way: A party that ran the country into the ground in many aspects still got approx. 20 seats out of 160. That is still quite a high number! So many people still think that Fianna Fail is a party that should be in charge, which is rather shocking.
Now it is over to Enda Kenny! The Dail will meet on 09 March, so he has another 8 days to sort out his government. I am still not convinced that he is suitable or will be good as a leader, so he has to show us now that he can build a government and that he will choose the right people for his cabinet. So, let’s get the future started. A future hopefully with more accountability and with a less self-serving attitude among the TDs.
