Dáil status quo secure for now, but Fianna Fáil is waiting in the wings

ENDA ABÚ. The man has his mojo back. More pertinently he has snipers and successors back in their box. For many the box is ministerial office, which affords all the comfort and some of the latitude given to free-range poultry. Better stay there then. Any next outing is likely to be a roasting, and reincarnation as political carrion. A solid middle ground within the Fine Gael parliamentary party has a vested interest in stabilising the status quo, which for now is Enda. Remaining snipers, as Brendan Griffin found out, are too few and isolated. Potential successors in a depleted parliamentary party, within a precarious Government, dare not move precipitously for fear of bringing the Government down. They cannot move rashly either, without fear of leaving the potential support required, for the leadership they seek.
That is only to speak of Fine Gael, Enda’s last line of defence. Supporters of the status quo consist of virtually every member of the Dáil, for now. Many, including Sinn Féin, the Anti Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit, and assorted oppositional independents deny it. But they protest too much. At least, they protest with the certainty of having a safety net that their protests will not bring the House down — for now.