2016 Review: A bizarre, sometimes dreadful, year in politics

It was a “bizarre year in politics” says Irish Times political reporter Sarah Bardon, who found herself with very little to report on some nights in Leinster House, as the minority government argued behind closed doors and not much got done.She joined her colleague Harry McGee and historian Diarmaid Ferriter this morning, to review the year gone by for the Irish Times Inside Politics podcast.The panel discussed opinion polls and the dreadful year they have had, with Harry McGee conceding that political pundits are far better at analysing the past than they are predicting the future.This time last year a strong general election performance was predicted for Fine Gael and a disastrous one for Fianna Fáil. How wrong they were, says Sarah Bardon, who cites Enda Kenny’s mantra of ‘keep the recovery going’ and Fine Gael’s obsession with the ‘fiscal space’ as two reasons why the party failed to perform at the polls as expected.Fine Gael advisors were the victims of “brain freeze” when it came to the Taoiseach’s campaign strategy, says McGee, and would have been better served by letting their leader loose on the public more. It has been a frightening year in many ways, says Diarmaid Ferriter, but the 1916 Centenary celebrations were an exception. They were dignified and engaging for the public, he said, with a feeling that they belonged to the people and not the state.The panel also discussed Brexit, Trump’s election and the emergence of activism outside the political sphere internationally. They also talked about the demise of Labour despite being instrumental in the Marriage Referendum and analysed the policy shifts of the Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil parties over the past 12 months.

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