Is Heather Humphreys running out of places to hide?

When Arts Minister Heather Humphreys said she couldn’t say who told her to appoint John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art as it was a "Fine Gael matter", she revealed the very line of thinking that has landed her Government in the trouble it’s in.

The Monaghan-based TD was the surprise, if not shock, appointment at the time of the reshuffle — having never held a junior ministerial position and being elected to the Dáil for the first time in 2011. Nevertheless, she accepted the job and all that goes with it.

Many Fine Gael TDs have been quietly saying in recent days that she has not “stepped up to the mark”, while the opposition is accusing her of running scared.