Elaine Loughlin: The conscious uncoupling of Government has begun

Trying to sell themselves as very different parties to voters, while at the same time remaining respectful due to the possibility of forming a successor government, will be a difficult task for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael

Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Taoiseach Simon Harris, and Minister Eamon Ryan. 'No one really thought of the break-up.' Picture: Sasko Lazarov/Rolling News

The conscious uncoupling has begun, but not even Gwyneth Paltrow has written a manual on how to amicably break up a Government.

While a massive effort was put into establishing the historic Government, made up of the two civil war parties and the Greens, little thought was put into how they might part ways in an orderly fashion.