Articulating a credible future proving to be a major problem for Fianna Fáil

IF MICHEÁL MARTIN isn’t Tánaiste after the next election he’ll be toast. If Labour can’t deliver sufficient numbers to form a government with Fine Gael, the prospect of a Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil coalition will come into view.

The lust for office, the strongest of all the primeval urges in those with the FF chromosome will be an unbearable temptation.

It won’t be in the party’s interest to return to government. Formerly in the driving seat, they will be counted, along with Labour, as the alternate spare tyre in Irish politics. Fine Gael, re-elected for the first time as the major party in government, will have replaced Fianna Fáil as the natural party of government. The highest ambition of the also-rans will be to be picked as its partner.