Politics

Elaine Byrne: After eleven long years in power, Fine Gael seems tired and low on ideas

Irish political history shows that the longer a party is in government, the more it gets stuck in a rut. Battle fatigue has set in, while Sinn Féin is winning over the middle classes

Leo Varadkar: the Tánaiste called on his colleagues to be ‘braver’ on policy, citing issues around neutrality and security. Picture: NurPhoto via Getty

It would be cynical to suggest that Fine Gael’s big-ticket ideas amount to the now aborted plan for temporary education centres for children with special needs which was proposed, but then dropped amid controversy.

Or is Fine Gael banking on the renaming of Passport Express to Post Passport to grab the public imagination? This widely ridiculed initiative will be of no comfort to Evanne Ní Chuilinn who applied for her son’s passport four months ago. ...