Given that the vast majority of important decisions for Ireland’s future will continue to be made in Government Buildings, Leinster House, the White House, Capitol Hill, and the Berlaymont in Brussels (in no particular and quite changeable order) for the next four years, rather than in Áras an Uachtaráin, the outcome of last Friday’s election should be viewed in perspective.

Those who see the outcome as a shift or a lurch to the left in voter sentiment are, I think, mistaken.

I would see the result more in terms of what it was – an extraordinary implosion of the credibility and judgment of the leadership of centre - right parties who currently hold office in electoral politics.

When you consider the last three presidencies – those of Mary Robinson, Mary McAleese and Michael D Higgins – it seems that voters choose candidates who are intelligent, articulate, presentable, authentic, empathetic, experienced and inclusive, rather than located on any particular spot on an imaginary left-right spectrum. How else was Catherine Connolly selected as Leas-Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in a secret ballot of........

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