Micheál faces reality with glee... and uncertainty

LIKE a hostage suddenly released, Micheál Martin emerged blinking back into the Real World yesterday.

The gilded Cabinet cage and ministerial Mercedes now just a memory as he made the lonely, abrupt, walk from the centre of power to the back benches.

Mr Martin was all nervous smiles as he slipped through the Leinster House gates, unceremoniously stripped of the chauffeurs and gophers that have eased his path these past 13 years in Government.