As old guard rides off into the sunset, can there be new dawn for Coalition?

WHAT a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, the boys and girls of the Oireachtas trooped off for their summer holliers with the division bells for historic legislation ringing in their ears.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was passed in the dying days of that Dáil term.

It had been, for some, a bruising affair, that saw a rump of Fine Gael parliamentarians jump ship, holding on, for dear life, to their consciences. For the denizens of the Labour Party, the passing of the legislation was a policy victory, something to wrap up and call their own. Eamon Gilmore, in particular, was chuffed.