Presidential election runner-up Peter Casey’s audacious threat to set up a “new Fianna Fáil” if Micheál Martin blocks him from joining the party has led to Renua Ireland’s leader saying he “will not stand in the way” of him taking over his party.

Fianna Fáil TDs have outright rejected Peter Casey’s calls to allow him to join and make him party leader, saying he would be “eaten alive” in real politics and will never be welcomed because he is “scapegoating” minority groups.

If Micheál Martin thought Mary Hanafin, Éamon Ó Cuív, and Bertie Ahern hanging around was bad, he may be about to get a foghorn-volume wake-up call as to what awkward really means, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith