FINE Gael are up but out, as they say themselves. They gained seven seats yet lost power this week. While some recriminations came to the surface when the election agents gathered in Dublin on Thursday to have their say, morale is high and there is a feeling of bouyancy. Since they failed to buck the trend and be the first government to be re-elected since the 1960s, they believe they will be back in next time, even if takes four years.
The complaints, naturally enough, cent red on their failures. Major mistakes were made by running two candidates in Dublin North West and by not sorting out internal problems in Kerry South, FG sources say. Some members felt that too much effort and finance was put into getting Brian Hayes elected in Dublin South West and Michael Joe Cosgrave in North East, to the detriment of other areas.
Labour, who fared badly, have more soul-searching to do. They expected to lose about 10 seats, maximum. As director of elections Senator Pat Magner said soon after the debacle, the party may have been mistaken in concentrating their firepower on the PDs when FF should have been the target. FF took their seats.
The PDs are also regrouping but from a position of power. It was the plan to cut 25,000 public sector jobs, plus the general squeeze on the smaller parties in favour of the two main groupings, that did for them.
Overall pre-election pacts are being viewed by all as a gamble. The public, one analyst said, don't seem to like them.