Electing Fine Gael

Leo Varadkar is riding a wave of personal popularity, but the party must take no chances when it comes to its wider election strategy

Opinion polls are so far bearing out Fine Gael’s belief that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will win the party more votes in a general election, with current predictions they will earn 60 Dáil seats Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Fine Gael has spent much of 2018 planning for a general election it was almost bounced into last Christmas, when a political crisis over the position of Frances Fitzgerald only subsided when she resigned as tánaiste.

“December was a big wake-up call,” said one party insider recently. “We weren’t ready to go and since then everyone is on heightened state of preparedness.” Fine Gael has now completed all but two of its selection ...