McNulty withdraws: Another fine mess indeed

There was an air of inevitability about John McNulty’s decision yesterday afternoon to withdraw his name from the list of candidates for the vacant Seanad seat.

What should have been a straightforward, easily managed exercise in political housekeeping turned into a toxic farce that cast nearly everyone involved, with the exception of Mr McNulty, in a pretty shabby light.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s turn-and-about-turn on Mr McNulty’s appointment to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art to facilitate his election to the cultural and education panel of the Seanad, damaged Mr Kenny considerably, a reality he has acknowledged.