Poll permutations offer dismal prospects of Micheál Martin becoming Taoiseach

The Government can’t even stave off a nurses strike, Martin thinks he can be Taoiseach propped up by a rag bag of independents and Adams’ Disney economics all make for a dismal election outlook, writes Shaun Connolly.

What the hell is Ireland coming to if a vote-hungry, electioneering Government can’t even buy its way out of an inconvenient health strike?

Who do these uppity nurses think they are? Don’t they know they should just shut up about the appalling conditions in hospitals and swallow the belated promises of a better deal until the election is safely out of the way — then be abandoned again?