Do you think, are many in the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil party believers in the púca? I mean they’ve spent thirty, forty years trying to convince the people of the south that Sinn Féin are lepers, political toxin, and what happens? They keep winning votes. A few years back, it appeared for the first time that the Shinner tide had been turned. They lost seats in Europe, they lost seats in councils – their vote was down disastrously throughout the twenty-six counties. You could almost hear the whoops of jubilation coming from FF and FG headquarters. Then what happens? Well, the last general election happens, and if only Sinn Féin had put up more candidates, they’d have romped home with a massive seat lead. As it was they still topped the other parties in terms of votes cast. The boys were back in town.
Then yesterday they had this opinion poll of all the parties. The good news was that Fianna Fáil were steady at 20%. The. bad news was that Fine Gael were down 5% at 22% and Sinn Féin were up one at – wait for it – 32%. It was only by displaying strong character and fierce self-control that FF and FG TDs didn’t slip into a side room and open a vein.
And while all this was not so much being digested as giving indigestion, it emerges that Simon Coveney may be on his way to that service in Armagh, which will ‘mark’ partition and the creation of Northern Ireland. Yes, yes, it shows Simon to be a man who respects all traditions on the island, especially the unionist tradition. At the same time, President Michael D Higgins has turned down that gig, and over 80% of the people in the south thought he did the right thing by so doing. And now we have Simon marching northwards. So is Simon saying that Michael D and over 80% of the south’s population got it wrong? He’ll have to, otherwise he’ll be forced to say that he’s got it wrong himself.
Oh dear. `Once the púca takes a dislike to you, you’re in danger of ending up toast.
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