Last-ditch deal may backfire on Enda Kenny

For a party criticised for shooting itself in the foot throughout the election, it is more than a little ironic that Fine Gael now appears set on shooting itself in the back.

A full 60 days after the February 26 vote, three weeks into “historic” talks between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, and after 100 hours of separate discussions with Independents, Enda Kenny has made a significant, perhaps game-changing, concession to Micheál Martin.

In return for supporting — or to use Fianna Fáil’s own word, ‘facilitating’, because no-one could interpret the party’s actions in recent days as support — a Fine Gael-led minority government, Mr Kenny has told his rival he will agree to suspend water charges for six to nine months.