I expect Ardagh to be appointed to a junior ministry next week, while Dolan may also be considered for promotion.

Meanwhile, in 2020, Norma Foley nominated Martin for Taoiseach and was remarkably - given her status as a first-time TD - appointed to Cabinet later that day. James O’Connor also nominated Martin that day, but remained on the backbenches throughout the last Dáil.

Remarkable. Somewhat reminds me of some of those chaotic Brexit votes in Parliament, or the final days of Truss! How long before we see a Flynn-esque contribution directed at the Ceann Comhairle!? youtu.be/1lmzfSZKLVA?...

Immense!

For me, the key question is not *whether* MPs should be active on local issues, case work, etc - but rather what the correct balance to strike is between those issues and national, legislative matters.

However, MPs' constituency duties can positively feed in to their legislative function - and detachment from constituents is not conducive to strong trust or faith in the democratic system.

That said, trust in politics has continued to decline despite the perceived increased focus on 'the local'.

This is rather unfathomable in Irish politics, with our localist political culture and electoral system featuring intra-party competition.

There are certainly pertinent questions to be asked about whether the constituency focus is the most effective use of national parliamentarians' time.

I’ll keep an eye out for it! I enjoyed reading some of Duverger’s work on party organisation as part of lit review for my undergrad dissertation.

Remarkable approach to diplomacy.

Fascinating data. The Brexit figure is particularly intriguing - would love to explore the leave/remain breakdown amongst those who still identify it as a top 3 issue, as well as how they voted in 2024!

Congrats! Would love to read this if it’s available anywhere online 📖

The Conservative and Reform figures on socialism are... interesting!

YouGov's age breakdown is also worth reviewing

First time in quite a while visualising data like this - any constructive feedback welcome!

Next step is to dive deeper into history for a broader timeframe, include local election results, as well as analysis of the other regions - Connacht-Ulster, Munster, and the Rest of Leinster.

Sinn Féin's growth has been quite consistent both nationally and within Dublin - no major volatility, overperformance or underperformance.

The same exercise for Fine Gael illustrates its volatility in terms of seat share.
2011 is particularly interesting - FG in Dublin underperformed its national FPV but overperformed in terms of seat share.
Since 2020 however, FG performance in Dublin accurately reflects its national performance.