Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Ireland’s rotten old order clings to power
Despite plummeting living standards and multiple crises in housing, education and health, another Fianna Fail-Fine Gael coalition approaches after an election with low turnout and no breakthrough for the left, writes NICK WRIGHT
HEADING TO THE CENTRE: Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald arrives at the count

IRELAND’S general election has finished with the two main parties of the Irish capitalist Establishment just two seats short of a majority big enough to form a coalition government.

In an election where near on half the electorate stayed away from the polls, Fianna Fail won 48 seats and Fine Gael 38. Sinn Fein won 39 seats, the Labour Party 11, the Social Democrats 11, and the Green Party lost all but one of its outgoing TDs. The number of independents elected was 23, while People Before Profit returned with three TDs.

To varying extent, all the parties likely to be included in a coalition government bear responsibility for the problems working people in Ireland face.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Monica Crowley, White House chief of protocol (obstructed at left) greets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, upon arriving to meet with President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, August 18, 2025
Features / 28 August 2025
28 August 2025

US tariffs have had Von der Leyen bowing in submission, while comments from the former European Central Bank leader call for more European political integration and less individual state sovereignty. All this adds up to more pain and austerity ahead, argues NICK WRIGHT

Guillaume Périgois
Politics / 14 August 2025
14 August 2025

Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer listens to a question from the press, after making a statement in Downing Street, London, July 29, 2025
Neoliberalism / 31 July 2025
31 July 2025

Deep disillusionment with the Westminster cross-party consensus means rupture with the status quo is on the cards – bringing not only opportunities but also dangers, says NICK WRIGHT

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is accompanied by councillor Brian Collins (left) and the Head of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaran (right) as he poses for a photo with members of Kent County Council, County Hall, Maidstone, July 7, 2025
Features / 17 July 2025
17 July 2025

Holding office in local government is a poisoned chalice for a party that bases its electoral appeal around issues where it has no power whatsoever, argues NICK WRIGHT

Similar stories
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin (right) and Fine Gael's Si
World / 23 January 2025
23 January 2025
Activists protest outside the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Dev
Features / 10 December 2024
10 December 2024
With the Green Party’s electoral wipeout and far-right’s failure, the traditional defenders of the ruling class maintain in control, and the multiple crises our nation faces remain unaddressed, explains the COMMUNIST PARTY OF IRELAND
Michael Lennard sealing ballot boxes at a secure facility in
World / 28 November 2024
28 November 2024