Ó Cuív resignation - Challenge met head-on by Martin

If deputy Micheál Martin had harboured hopes that Fianna Fáil’s first ard fheis under his leadership would be a headline-grabbing event, the sudden resignation of Éamon Ó Cuív, his deputy leader, makes that a certainty.

In a remarkable twist in the history of the Soldiers of Destiny, Mr Ó Cuív, the grandson of former President Éamon de Valera, a founding father of Fianna Fáil, will be left out in the cold in the Dáil following the referendum on the European Stability Treaty. His expulsion from the parliamentary party now seems inevitable.

Reportedly, he has denied rumours of joining Sinn Féin. Having little option but to resign as deputy leader and communications spokesman, he will remain a TD at the grassroots of the organisation, a Trojan horse in waiting.