Fionnán Sheahan

How did Sean Lemass modernise the nation?

Why did Charlie Haughey command such loyalty?

And what made Bertie Hearn the ultimate pragmatist?

Where too does current leader Micheál Martin stand amidst the legacy of leaders?

I'm Fionnain Sheehan, and today on the IndoDaily, I'm joined by political correspondent with the Irish dependent, John Downing, to discuss the highs and lows of Fianna Fáil's 100-year history.

John Downing, a significant centenary.

in our country is being marked this year.

Now, maybe not the public at large celebrating, but the organization itself, which was one of the most significant national movements in this country in the last 100 years.

That's Fianna Fáil.

And they start up in 1926, the Civil War, where they were basically on the losing side and still fresh in the air.

And within 10 years of the Civil War, they find themselves in power.

Quite a remarkable transformation.

Huge and very significant.

Fianna Fáil, by the way, the name itself, Eamon de Valera liked it and went for it.

It was a name, a little used name for the Irish volunteers, the forerunner of the IRA.

But he liked it.

His great collaborator, Sean Lemass, wanted to call it the Republican Party.

The compromise was they called it Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party.

One of the reasons de Valera really liked the name was it was very hard to pin down and translate directly.

It's soldiers of destiny to their opponents, sometimes soldiers of density.