Dail deputies - 1969 generation

Abstract

As the Eighteenth Dail's life drew to a close, a major change in Irish political life was anticipated. The expectations were not confined to the national mass media, although the subsequent results tempted some politicians to suggest that the closed world of television, radio and national press had misread the mood of the nation. At the local level too, throughout the campaign, newspapers spoke of the 'Strong Desire for Change'1 and saw the contest as the promise of 'one of the great watersheds in Irish political history.'