# 100 years of Fianna Fáil: The highs, the lows, the controversies Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-beltel-5373912/100-years-of-fianna-f-il-the-highs-the-lows-the-controversies Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-beltel-5373912/100-years-of-fianna-f-il-the-highs-the-lows-the-controversies.md Podcast: [The BelTel](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-beltel-5373912) Published: 2026-05-16T13:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/the-beltel/episodes/100-years-of-fianna-fail-the-highs-the-lows-the-controversie Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/65670352d7b5d40012be7324/e/6a05ae59efd1f558b015b540/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-beltel-5373912/episodes/100-years-of-fianna-f-il-the-highs-the-lows-the-controversies Duration seconds: 1683 ## Resource Fianna Fáil has turned the ripe old age of 100. But is the house that Éamon de Valera built in disarray? Irish Independent political correspondent John Downing reckons “they’re a very pale, poor shadow of what they were”. So, how did Dev shape the party in the first place? How did Seán Lemass modernise Ireland? Why did Charles Haughey command such loyalty? What made Bertie Ahern the “ultimate pragmatist”? And where does Micheál Martin stand among the leaders who have gone before him?  Host: Fionnán Sheahan  Guest: John Downing  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-beltel-5373912/episodes/100-years-of-fianna-f-il-the-highs-the-lows-the-controversies/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-beltel-5373912/100-years-of-fianna-f-il-the-highs-the-lows-the-controversies.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.