Ireland, if not at the epicentre of the economic crisis, suffered more damage than most other countries affected. As in most other crisis-hit countries it directly led to the fall of a government – in the Irish case prematurely. The crisis, which observers now admit was exacerbated by governmental decisions after the crisis hit, was also accompanied by what many saw as a lack of leadership. A new government sought, and according to opinion polls largely succeeded, in fulfilling this ‘leadership gap’. Oddly, however, it was not based on any new or alternative policies – something we usually associate with leadership. In fact the new government promised and was constrained to offering the same policies the previous government had agreed to and was implementing. This paper examines the Irish case between 2008 and 2012 and examines what the debate says about the nature of leadership, in particular whether it needs to be based on offering alternative solutions to policy problems, as is frequently assumed.
