Word: fianna
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...been able to attend. They are prisoners in the H-block of Ulster's Maze Prison, where Doherty is now in the seventh week of a hunger strike. His death or Agnew's resignation would cause by-elections that could be won by Haughey and his Fianna Fail (Band of Destiny) party, thereby weakening FitzGerald's government still more. That possibility has forced both Irish leaders to reconsider their positions on Ulster. The former Prime Minister has begun criticizing the unyielding tactics of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. At the same time, FitzGerald has reversed a pledge...
When Ireland's parliamentary election campaign opened a month ago, Prime Minister Charles Haughey and his Fianna Fáil (Band of Destiny) party seemed invincible. The polls showed them comfortably ahead of their opponents; Haughey, 55, had sprinted into the lead like an Irish steeplechaser in a field of Clydesdales. But then the jumps got higher. Undercut by the tensions in Northern Ireland and voter discontent over inflation (21%) and unemployment (11%), Haughey saw his lead evaporate. A strong finish by the opposition Fine Gael (Family of the Irish) party, headed by former Foreign Minister Garret Fitzgerald...
After last week's opening round of bargaining to piece together a coalition, Fitzgerald seemed to have a slight edge. Haughey and Fianna Fáil had won 78 of the 166 seats in the new Dáil (parliament), compared with Fine Gael's 65. The balance of power lay with the small Labor Party (15 seats), whose new leader, Michael O'Leary, showed a marked distaste for the outgoing Haughey government. It would be "very remarkable indeed," O'Leary said, if his party linked up with Fianna Fáil. On the other hand...
...Mountbatten assassination to cooperate with the British in efforts to assist the cause of peace. He allowed some cooperation between Irish and British security forces, including an agreement that permitted British helicopters to fly into a small area of Irish airspace in search of terrorists. He treated the Fianna Fáil aim of political unity for all of Ireland as a distant ideal rather than an immediate goal. To some party members, that was heresy...
Lynch had been expected to resign, but not quite so soon. He wanted to give his successor time to prepare for the next election. However, last week a Fianna Fáil member raised a question in Parliament about the party's defeat in two November by-elections in Lynch's native County Cork. That was the second humiliation this year: in June, Fianna Fáil was trounced in an election of delegates to the European Parliament. These reversals came on top of a number of economic woes that also undermined Lynch: high inflation (14%), soaring interest...