Real business of running country left in limbo

It was a second day of locked doors and sealed lips as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael continued talks.

Mutterings that the contentious issue of Irish Water was due to be discussed leaked out from the Sycamore Room yesterday and if the Civil War rivals can come to agreement on that, anything is possible.

The negotiators may not have got around to the water issue, but one thing that certainly was on the agenda was the nuts and bolts of forming a minority government.