Now that all the votes are counted in the Irish General Election, here’s the result:

The final state of the parties is: Fianna Fáil 78; Fine Gael 51; Labour 20; PDs 2; Green Party 6; Sinn Féin 4 and Others 5.

So Fianna Fail — once memorably (and accurately) described as “the political wing of the construction industry” — wins again. They’re five seats short of an absolute majority, so a coalition is inevitable. I’m not surprised by the result: the country is so drunk on prosperity that it was very unlikely voters would opt to change the regime. The really good news is that Sinn Fein failed to make the electoral headway that was once predicted for it. I had a nightmare vision of Adams & Co holding the balance of power in a hung Dail (parliament).