Pat Leahy: The coalition’s ‘keep buggering on’approach is no longer sufficient to deal with a changed public mood

It is beyond question that something significant has changed in the public mood about politics in the last 12 months.

Around the Leinster House environs, many government politicians are awaiting this Wednesday’s anti-water charges demonstration with escalating levels of trepidation. Thursday’s Irish Times opinion poll confirmed the trends evident in other polls recently – support for the government parties continues to slide to historically low levels, with the chief beneficiaries being Sinn Féin ...