The title of one of Stephen Donaldson's sci-fi fantasies came into my mind as I watched the almost farcical collapse of the government in Dublin. It looks very much as though we are watching the near total eclipse of the two parties which have dominated Irish politics for most of the last century. In the south Fianna Fail face not just ejection from government, a temporary inconvenience they have occasionally had to put up with before now, but near annihilation.
And this is not a cyclical thing; recovery is not certain. As we can see in the north, where there is no sign of recovery for the Ulster Unionists. They have been dominant in their patch even longer than FF (largest party in every election in the 20th century is a record which most of the world's dictatorships could only gaze at in awe), but they will be struggling to preserve even their already sadly reduced circumstances in the Assembly elections in May.
We live in interesting time, and it would be nice to think that the downfall of these two old parties, which between them at the height of their powers summed up pretty much everything that was wrong with Ireland, actually represented a real change. But unfortunately there is little enough sign of that.
I did use the word 'farcical' earlier, and it is hard to avoid a reference to history repeating itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. Tragedy isn't the word that you would use about the 'GUBU' days, unless you are referring to the unfortunate murder victims, but Charlie Haughey was a dark, saturnine figure, a dramatic figure, a character from Don Giovanni or Tosca. It would be a real irony if the party which outlived Charlie should finally be laid low by Brian Cowan.
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