Sinn Fein’s surge in the Irish election was a cry of frustration

The people have spoken. Now, what do they mean? That is the first question to be asked in the wake of this Irish election and, as is so often the case, not all the answers to it are elementary and some of them are contradictory. This was both a startling election result and an unsurprising one. Few people, least of all Sinn Fein themselves, thought Mary Lou McDonald’s party would top the poll but some aspects of the result are less surprising. Overall, however, this was both an earthquake election and an inconclusive one. So much so, in fact, that the 33rd Dail may prove a short one.

Until the weekend, Fine Gael had been in power for nine years, the party’s longest run in government since it was founded in 1933. In such circumstances, a swing against Leo Varadkar’s party was always probable.

Indeed, put crudely, the story of Irish politics for decades has been that Fianna Fail break things and Fine Gael are then charged with fixing them.