Eamon Gilmore: The most popular man in Ireland? Why? How?

During this week, the world of Irish politics was rocked at its very foundations. For the first time since the founding of the state, neither of the two civil war relic parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, were at the top of the politic polls. Instead, the Labour party were there. The man claiming the responsibility for this? Well it could only be Mr Eamon Gilmore, the seemingly most popular man in post tiger Ireland.
How did it happen?

How did a formerly opened communist from one of the wealthiest constituencies in the state become the most popular man in the nation, and the front runner to be next leader of Ireland?
On Gilmores own biography on the Labour website, its claimed that he was born into a small farming family in Cabra in the 1950's. He then rose through the ranks of the students union of Ireland, becoming its leader at the tender age of twenty. Later, he would win election to the Dail as a workers party candidate, before helping to form Democratic Left, (the party which seized control of the labour party in the late 90's), and eventually becoming leader of the Labour party, which was about to become the most popular party in the state, mainly due to his own integrity and charm.
Strange that it bears no mention of his time in Official Sinn Fein, the political party linked to the official IRA.
It also fails to mention his love, and his workers party's connections with the Soviet Union and North Korean totalitarian regimes during the 80's.
Its ironic that a man, who clearly had a revolutionary spirit during his earlier years, would end up becoming leader of the most centrist left wing party in Europe years later.