Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the last general election as "the perfect democratic ambush", when he launched a guide to election 2011 and the 31st Dáil produced by the team behind RTÉ's The Week In Politicsprogramme.
Mr Kenny said no electorate should return any government, no matter how good, for more than two terms because fatigue and exhaustion always set in. “It happened to Tony Blair; it happened to the Fianna Fáil party,” he said.
“This turned out to be the perfect democratic ambush because, unlike other countries in Europe, our people did not take to the streets, they did not cause riots, they decided to wait until they entered the polling stations.”
He said only those who had gone through an election could understand what it meant to “walk the democratic tightrope”.