Soldiers of destiny, the long and the short of them

Mark Brennock , Chief Political Correspondent, explains why Fianna Fáil has this year changed its name - and changed it back…

Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, explains why Fianna Fáil has this year changed its name - and changed it back again.

Fianna Fáil has now tried twice to have itself described as "Fianna Fáil, The Republican Party" on ballot papers, giving up the attempt each time for stylistic rather than political reasons.

As a company, the party is registered as "Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party". The party's logo, notepaper and publications have since 1926 called the party Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party, and still do.

The requirement for a political party to register with the Clerk of the Dáil was only introduced in 1963, according to an Oireachtas spokeswoman. From that year until 1999, the party was registered simply as Fianna Fáil.

READ MORE

In 1999, however, it registered itself as Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party. This was to allow the party use the longer name on ballot papers after each candidate's name. According to a spokeswoman, the idea was "to reinforce our identity as embraced in the logo".

The move also coincided with the growth of Sinn Féin as an electoral force in the Republic, and the feeling of many within Fianna Fáil that they should contest that party's claim to be the legitimate heir of the republican tradition.

After two by-elections, the party decided the new presentation of the longer name on ballot papers was visually cluttered. "The presentation of the longer name was intrusive on the space taken by the candidate's name," the spokeswoman said. So in 2001 the party registered as Fianna Fáil again.

In January this year, however, they felt that, by using different typefaces and sizes, they could put the longer name neatly on ballot papers after all. It therefore registered again as Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party.

Since then, according to the spokeswoman, the Department of the Environment has briefed them on the restrictions on typefaces and sizes allowed.

Having considered the options Fianna Fáil decided once again that the long name would be intrusive and would look untidy, according to the spokeswoman. This month they registered as Fianna Fáil again.

None of this has anything to do with the introduction of electronic voting, as the shape and size of the ballot paper will not change under the new system.

A party spokeswoman maintained yesterday that the renewed attempt to get the full name on the ballot paper was not a response to the belief that Sinn Féin provides an increased electoral threat.

Meanwhile the Oireachtas spokeswoman said yesterday that a report that the Progressive Democrats was registered as "The Progressive Democrats, An Páirtí Daonlathach", was not correct. If true, this would have undermined Fianna Fáil's statement that its full name was too long to fit neatly on a ballot paper, as this version of the PD name is longer.

However, the Oireachtas spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that the party used only its English name - Progressive Democrats - and this is what appears after party candidates' names on ballot papers.

All of this is rendered of little significance by the fact that political parties now include their official logos beside the names of each of their candidates on ballot papers.

Fianna Fáil's logo calls it "Fianna Fáil, The Republican Party", just as the PDs' logo gives the party name as "Progressive Democrats, an Páirtí Daonlathach".