Almost a century ago, the self-declared conservative rebels who founded this State chose to imitate the British constitutional monarchy, replacing a figurehead monarch with a figurehead president. When Irish voters went to the polls last week, the question they were actually asked was: who would you like as our substitute king or queen?
The Irish president is without any political power and constrained by the Constitution. The question I would have liked to ask people is: does this system work for you? For many working-class people, the answer is no. This is obvious from the large vote for Catherine Connolly and the number of spoiled votes.
This election has sent a message to the Government. Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have come out of the campaign with egg on their faces. Fine Gael’s candidate was unable to enthuse even their own voters, while the Fianna Fáil fiasco surrounding Jim Gavin has led to the first real
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