Ireland's Fianna Fail, which has been in control of Irish government for 61 of the last 79 years, has been swept from office by voters angry with Ireland's Euro-controlled crash:
When disaster struck, the government bet the country on its toxic banks. At its lowest ebb, Fianna Fail could always rely on the tribal vote that had its roots in civil war politics.And is trouble brewing for the Euros?
This time, fury drove mass desertion. What has astonished the political class is that in Friday's election, Fianna Fail voters crossed the historic divide to vote for Fine Gael, the old enemy, something that would have been unthinkable had there not been an economic catastrophe.
Yes, there was a big angry vote for Labour, independents and for Sinn Fein (whose economic strategy is to default on all debts, use the pension reserve fund to reverse cuts in social-welfare benefits - at present roughly twice those in the UK - and then demand that burned bondholders re-finance Ireland), but essentially, the electorate decided it wanted to play safe with Fine Gael.
So what will it get? Enda Kenny, who will be Taoiseach, was a schoolteacher for four years before he succeeded his father as a member of the Dail, or TD. His party is no more ideological than Fianna Fail, and is similarly awash with teachers and lawyers, but is more middle-class and honest. It has, however, almost no experience of government.
And were the new government radical enough to take the issue to the people in a referendum, there would be overwhelming support for measured and sensible defaults. Ireland is out of love with the EU: the days of sullen acquiescence with its diktats could just possibly be over.
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