Martin must bide time and not jump gun on election calls

Fine Gael enjoys watching Micheál Martin hop on hot coals, and foolishly he gives it the pleasure, writes Gerard Howlin.

Opinion polls aside, and I will come back to that, a colder view is needed to understand who is more constricted in the straitjacket of confidence and supply. It discomfits both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for sure.

But for now the limitations on Fianna Fáil are all tactical. Rightly or wrongly, and I am of the latter view, Leo Varadkar may be convinced he is in a strategic bind from which he wants to escape.