Word: fianna
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Ever since Ireland achieved full independence, in 1949, Eamon de Valera's Fianna Fail (Soldiers of Destiny) Party has been out of office and without an issue on which to fight its way in again. Last week doughty old (68) De Valera made a try for a comeback. He missed by a margin no wider than a shamrock leaf...
...very moment when the Dail met to elect a Taoiseach (literally: leader) , Dev had been hopeful. Of the splinter parties which had ended his Fianna Fall majority, he cracked scornfully: "Many a chisel has lost chips, but did you ever see anybody collecting the chips and trying to make another chisel out of them...
...Valera, whose Fianna Fail had grown lazy and complacent in 16 years of uninterrupted rule, seemed to be merely against MacBride. "If you don't return me," he told the voters, "Eire faces disaster." But he had little to promise on his own account. "Better a Dev you know than a devil you don't," was the best slogan Fianna members could think...
...reply to this was a unified cry of "Anything you can do, we can do better." But beyond that there seemed little chance of agreement between the parties opposing Dev. Clann workers scrawled "Is your trip really necessary?" on posters showing a De Valera rampant with the Fianna slogan, "We are ready to resume the advance." But with equal enthusiasm Laborite heelers amended MacBride posters proclaiming "A New Deal" with the words "Yes, but with the same old pack...
...Clann na Poblachta (Republican Party), founded only a year ago, had dared to challenge Dev's Fianna Fail. In Dublin, Waterford and Tipperary Counties, Clann candidates cut heavily into the Fianna's 1944 majorities. "The political tide, if it has not yet turned," said the Irish Times, "most assuredly is turning...