It is interesting times ahead. The dynamic has changed now insofar that MM can now go directly head to head against MLMc.
I consider MM an effective orator, and his disdain toward SF is palpable.
It remains to be seen how much he relies on IRA atrocities of the past to keep SF vote at bay. I think he done this effectively in the past. I'm not sure how effective a strategy it is anymore given nearly all SF TDs were never in the IRA (Dessie Ellis is the only one I can think of).
I would suggest it a poor strategy now. The election results in Feb point to a increasing detachment growing numbers of people now have from the coalface of the Troubles. This is understandable. Of my generation, brutal atrocities etched into the conscience, such as Jean McConville and Joan Connolly, are of time past for younger people who will have an increasing sense of detachment from the past and, naturally, a greater interest in the future.
A small observation; Shortly after the David Cullinane "Up the 'Ra" incident and the subsequent outrage, I was in a well known tourist pub in Co Clare at end of February where a political/historical conversation commenced between a 60yr old English friend and a group of college students. With drink involved the conversation was a mish-mash of opinion, but the most striking observation for me was the frequent "up the 'ra" chants by these students. Shortly afterwards, at my sons U14 soccer training I heard the chant amongst a group of boys. It would appear "up the' ra" was trending. This is something that, outside of hardcore republican circles, would not have been tolerated in social settings where I grew up. But here it was, nonchantantly thrown about by young adults.
It is a detachment from a time gone by. While such atrocities should never of course be forgotten, nor will they be, I hope for all our sakes it is the present and future that dominates proceedings in the Dáil as it is clear to my mind that with one in six people not even born here, the priorities are very different, if not necessarily now, but in the very near future.
Those that lean too much on the past as crutch to hold themselves up will quickly become irrelevant.
www.rte.ie
