GENERAL ELECTION 2007 - DUBLIN

This photograph was taken on Kildare Street.

Fianna Fáil - traditionally translated by the party into English as Soldiers of Destiny, though the actual meaning is Soldiers [Fianna] of Ireland, is currently the largest political party in the Republic of Ireland with 55,000 members. From its establishment in the early twentieth century, the party moved from being a radical, slightly centre-left party, to becoming the dominant established party, its influence dominating government and Irish political life from the 1930s onwards. It has been the largest party in Dáil Éireann since 1932, and has formed the government seven times since Ireland gained independence in 1921: 1932–48, 1951–54, 1957–73, 1977–81, 82, 1987–94, and since 1997. Electorally, Fianna Fáil is second only to the Swedish Social Democratic Party in its proportion of tenure in government. In the European Parliament, Fianna Fáil is a leading member of Union for Europe of the Nations, a small right-of-centre nationalist grouping. European political commentators have often noted substantive ideological differences between the party and its groupmates, whose strongly conservative stances have at times prompted domestic criticism of Fianna Fáil. Party headquarters, over the objections of some MEPs, has made several attempts to sever the party's links to the European right, most recently an aborted 2004 agreement to join the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, with whom it already sits at the Council of Europe.