Just like Haughey Cowen sacrificed a close friend to hold on to power

BRIAN COWEN is facing an enormous test of his political pragmatism. Tribal to his core, the sacrifice of Willie O’Dea, one of his Fianna Fáil family, to satisfy the demands of his Green coalition partners must have been like a hammer blow to Cowen.

Fiercely loyal to friends, the realisation that one of his closest colleagues, who he enjoyed socialising with, had to leave to keep the government intact is another twist of the knife. An added dimension is that Cowen rates O’Dea very highly: despite his occasional buffoonery O’Dea is regarded as an able operator within cabinet and was likely to be promoted in near future.

Charles Haughey had to do worse to save his government 20 years ago.