Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney crunch the numbers

This week, the Irish Examiner Political Team — Juno McEnroe, Fiachra O Cionnaith, Elaine Loughlin, and Daniel McConnell — have endeavoured to pin down where support within the 73 members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party is likely to go once votes are cast.

“Who is your man backing” and “what about your one there” — these are the kind of questions on the lips of most along the corridors of power since last week.

Quiet conversations in corners of the canteen over tea in recent days have been dominated by the conversation about how many votes Simon Coveney will have over Leo Varadkar and vice-versa.