The lawyerly Jim O'Callaghan is now in pole position to ascend the party ladder and eventually take over as Fianna Fáil leader. Photograph: Dara MacDónaill
What now for Micheál Martin and Fianna Fáil after the debacle of the last week? Is this the beginning of the end?
It is often the way in politics that when a leader seems at the height of his or her powers, the lustre of their ascendancy obscures a decline already in train. Sometimes this is because of old-fashioned hubris, sometimes because things happen in the background before they happen publicly. And sometimes it’s just because very few political careers end in the way that politicians want them to.
The Fianna Fáil leader entered the presidential election process this summer with his political pre-eminence undisputed. The most popular politician in the country, Taoiseach for the second time after winning the recent general el
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