Michael Clifford: A few little twists of fate meant Frances Fitzgerald's resignation was inevitable

The drip-feed of information over the O’Higgins Tribunal and the Disclosures Tribunal had only one possible outcome, writes Special Correspondent Michael Clifford

It’s the little things that trip you up. So said Albert Reynolds on the day in 1994 that he was forced to resign as Taoiseach. Frances Fitzgerald could surely relate to that on one level.

The issue that forced her from office is not small or insignificant, but it was a few little twists of fate that ensured it found its way into the public domain. The small group who were aware of the details of what had transpired behind the closed doors of the O’Higgins and Department respectively must have been confident that these matters would never get aired. The minister, to the greater or lesser extent that she was aware of it all, must have been equally confident.