As Fianna Fail candidates discovered to their cost in the 2011 General Election, hell hath no fury like a battle-weary electorate scorned. And at the ballot box last week voters enthusiastically exacted their revenge. The message for the Government parties couldn't have been clearer - the public are mad as hell and aren't gong to take it anymore.
Unlike the civil unrest that greeted austerity in places such as Greece, in this country we give the impression that we are compliant pushovers in the face of property tax and water charges. But boy do we vent our spleens on polling day.
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| •Sinn Féin is now the largest party on Dublin City Council. PHOTO BY DARREN KINSELLA |
The voting shift to the left saw major gains for Sinn Féin, anti-austerity parties and Independents. Alliances will be formed between like-minded councillors on local authorities throughout the country. Sinn Féin is now the largest party on Dublin City Council. When grouped together with other left-leaning councillors, they will have a powerful voting lobby.
But this type of power and control brings with it great responsibility. Councillors who would have traditionally voted against unpopular measures now hold all the cards. The question is: will they have the stomach to support unpalatable but necessary cutbacks or be able to come up with viable alternatives? Will they be able to vote through Dublin City Council's budgets? It's easy to oppose everything when you haven't got the numbers to ultimately influence the outcome but that's not the case anymore following the May 23 election.
With the prospect of this Government lasting its full term looking increasingly unlikely, Sinn Féin and their allies have a valuable opportunity to prove they can be trusted with the economic management of our local authorities. If they fail, a fickle electorate will migrate en masse back to Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour when it comes to electing TDs to the 32nd Dáil.
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