The story of the Dail election of 2016 can be easily told around a few issues.
 
In the first dispute Fine Gael indignantly denied that they would seek the support of former Michael Lowry TD to prop up a minority coalition - his history of tax evasion and corruption ruled him out.
 
Yet the Lowry formula dominates the election. All the candidates intend to trade support for this or that coalition in return for concessions on specific issues. Given that we stay within the capitalist budget the overall attack on workers remains in place, 
 
Rather than a new politics, the election remains firmly in the tradition of gombeen cronyism. A number of independent candidates are openly proposing to sell their votes and this meets with widespread approval—the only alternative—independent action by the working class—is rarely put forward. 
 
The other big issue in the election is that of "fiscal space."  The coalition had a deal with the Troika to build an election war chest and had inflated that by several billion. The charge was that they were operating outside the financial stability act that constraints government spending and enforces austerity.
 
But the dispute means that all the parties were operating within the FSA space and the economic programme of the Troika. The dominion of Ireland by the Troika will not be seriously addressed in this campaign. To be fair to the socialist candidates, they do from time to time mention the repudiation of debt, but given that this would mean war with the Troika we would need much greater  detail—a serious plan of defence rather than a reference to debt conferences. In contrast Sinn Fein have announced that the banking debt has the force of law and the party has been given the all clear locally by the Irish Times (a safe pair of hands) and confidence in the party has been expressed by Goldman Sachs (nothing to worry about) meanwhile the austerity agenda in the North proceeds apace.
 
The debate descended into farce when Michael Noonan "closed" the fiscal gap by announcing that Fine Gael would tax the rich! As this was the magic bullet advanced by the opposition it meant that class politics went out the window and was replaced by competing claims of giveaways to the workers. Meanwhile 1 in 5 families live in fear of losing their homes. 
 
It would be wonderful if a revolutionary programme for socialism and working class power were to be proclaimed in the Dail.
 
Although individual TDs and left groups will provide an opposition, the workers republic will not be  proclaimed in this election. What will happen will be welcome. Capitalism will get a slap in the face.  Labour will be decimated. There will be a few more left TDs and the new government will be a great deal more unstable than the old.
 
But very little of what has happened to us has been processed through the Dail.  In the aftermath of the election the state is deploying a permanent armed presence on the streets, the Troika will step forward with new demands. It is this we must prepare for.