Catherine Connolly’s election as incoming president has brought the prospect of a united Ireland closer, but the left alliance that backed her will not be the government that makes it happen.
The catalyst will be the new leader of Fianna Fáil at the next general election, a succession Connolly’s emphatic victory has set in train. Her triumph has been accurately described as “seismic”, for it has shifted the tectonic plates under this island.
Almost everybody agrees Micheál Martin’s heir apparent is Jim O’Callaghan.
The latter’s declaration last year that he was open to entering government with Sinn Féin was a stark counterpoint to Martin’s consistent refusal to contemplate coalition with the political wing of the defunct Provisional IRA.
Equally significant is O’Callaghan’s repeated espousal of reunification compared to Martin’s insistence on a precondition of reconciliation. Many Fianna Fáil members and voters complain that, under the current leader, the party has surrendered its republican heritage to Sinn Féin and that even Fine Gael’
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