There is an old Spanish proverb that goes: “When you see your neighbour’s beard being shaved, you better soak your own.”
Yet, the Tanaiste is today staunchily denying that Labour here will become extinct at the next election, alleging a technicality that “the Irish proportional representation system was markedly different to the UK’s first-past-the-post.”
While that may be true, the scant support for Labour here leaves little doubt that the Tanaiste’s party will suffer grievous losses at the very least, and total annihilation at worst.
She then added that ““It would be very unlikely that any party, or group of parties in Ireland, would be able to govern on less than 40 per cent, but, as we can see from the UK results, that is a significant majority there.”`
Another old adage springs to mind: “The worst blind is the one who does not want to see.”