Back Room: The Irish left has marginalised itself

Breathless is the only way you can really describe much of the coverage of last week’s anti-charges demonstrations and the main opinion poll of the weekend. The instant consensus was that a radical moment was upon us. The people are rising and they will sweep all before them.

In the Dáil, Joe Higgins was acting as if the revolution he has worked for all his life was now upon us. With his Socialist ...