Daniel McConnell: How rump of conservative FF TDs swung historic vote for Dying with Dignity Bill

Sources within Fianna Fáil said: 'It was expected that (Taoiseach Micheál Martin) would give a direction [on then Dying with Dignity Bill] but he didn’t, no matter how hard he was pressed. There was definitely an element of pointedly defying the wishes of the leader.' Picture Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

Amid all the noise of the Government versus Nphet row this week, a truly seismic decision by Dáil Eireann has passed by without sufficient attention.

Perhaps with all of the bandwidth taken up by the who knew what and when of the decision by Nphet to recommend moving to level 5 restrictions nationally, and also Leo Varadkar’s over-the-top criticisms of Dr Tony Holohan, the historic vote on Wednesday night slipped largely under the radar.