Last month’s general election in Ireland left the country in deep uncertainty, with no party holding a majority and none disposed to form a coalition. Many expect a rerun within a year 

If politics is a complex equation, Ireland’s general election last month revealed an electorate in the process of struggling to work out the correct answer. The result is a parliament that is so fractured as to be almost unworkable. Many observers expect another election within a year.

For five years the country has been recovering from an economic crash. The cost of bailing out the banks and rebalancing the state’s books has been felt in reduced social services and a dearth of new public housing, among other consequences. Many feel that the painful return from the brink of economic disaster has not been accompanied by the fundamental changes in the political and economic sphere that were part of the bargain. The spoils of recovery have not been equally shared; Ireland’s privileged “golden circles” seem to have proved remarkably resilient.