One hundred years ago this week, the inaugural public meeting was held for what would become one of the most electorally successful political parties in the democratic world. The new party’s leader, Éamon de Valera, displaying the autocratic style and attachment to romantic symbolism that was his hallmark, had already decided it would be called Fianna Fáil, warriors of destiny. His more practical lieutenant Seán Lemass’s suggestion of the Republican Party was relegated to a subtitle.
The La Scala theatre on O’Connell Street where those founders gathered is long gone, replaced by a department store. But Fianna Fáil survived and thrived, albeit in markedly different forms under successive generations.
This Saturday the party will celebrate a history of remarkable electoral success and real political achievement. It has been in power for 66 of the 93 years since it first entered office following the pivotal election of 1932. Even if the party’s claim to embody the nation was always overblown, it is true that the history of Fianna Fáil is inextricably interwoven with that of the State. The Constitution, the consolidation of sovereignty, the programmes of social housing and welfare provision all bear its imprint.
So too do the failures and missteps. Narrow cultural puritanism and economic stagnation also belong on de Valera’s ledger. When Lemass finally succeeded him, economic growth followed, but so did a new proximity to business interests and property development that would eventually end in corruption, cynicism, scandal and disgrace. Alongside that came undeniable achievements. Ireland grew more prosperous, more confident and more open under successive Fianna Fáil governments.
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Despite predictions, the party was not swept away by the 2008 financial crash and the humiliations that followed. But it was greatly diminished. It is now one of three medium-sized parties jostling for position in a more fractured and uncertain electoral marketplace.
The political instincts that animated de Valera and his comrades in 1926 included a pragmatic willingness to bend to the popular mood and a frank acknowledgement that the prime purpose of politics is the acquiring and wielding of power. Both are still visible. But the cumann structure has withered and the connection with communities has frayed, while the lines of demarcation from old rivals in Fine Gael have become blurred or simply irrelevant.
Micheál Martin is now the second longest-serving leader in the party’s history. The expectation is that his replacement will be in place before the next general election. Ever since de Valera brought his followers out of Sinn Féin a century ago, leadership has been central to Fianna Fáil’s sense of who it is.
