FG and FF are playing a game of election chicken

Leo Varadkar holds most of the cards, but Micheál Martin’s wily ways could outfox him

Micheál Martin: unlikely to be panicked into an early election Pic: Getty

In the earlier days of the confidence and supply deal, back when nobody expected it to last this long, I asked a senior figure in both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael what would bring it down, and they both had the same response: Brexit.

It was not that a row over the issue would collapse the government in the traditional sense - especially as there wasn’t much of a difference in approach between ...