Majority want Brexit minister: Taoiseach should reconsider

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny’s rule-nothing-out response to a question on the idea of a coalition with Sinn Féin last week stirred his backbenchers — and some cabinet colleagues too — into something pretty close to a here-we-go-again harrumph. 

Even the suggestion of such an alliance was, predictably, a red-line issue for hardcore Fine Gael supporters. Their out-out-out reaction came despite the fact that Mr Kenny was giving an entirely predictable response to a hypothetical question. The misstep, if that’s what it was, may, however, stir those who wish Mr Kenny should call time on his leadership into something a bit more challenging than occasionally sniping from a safe distance.

That Sinn Féin has finally accepted their policy of not joining any coalition as a junior partner condemns them to a life in the twilight zone of impotent opposition will add to that momentum — if that is not an overly energetic term to describe any, if any, current moves to unseat Mr Kenny.