Government talks: Now they can return to talks about talks and keep talking

Time is now the enemy as policy issues need to be decided for government, writes Michael Clifford

GOD be with the days when all an Independent TD had to worry about was a list of goodies in order to secure their vote. These days the poor crayters are buckling under the weight of the expectation of a nation.

So it seemed yesterday ahead of the latest farcical vote to elect a leader of the country. While Enda Kenny and Micheál Martin were the two candidates, the real power resided with the 15 independents who have been shuttling between talks and broadcast studios for weeks now.