Like the bull in a china shop, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has been on a wrecking rampage

The Fine Gael leader hasn’t enjoyed playing No2 to Micheál Martin and has spent his time sowing discord and upsetting his coalition colleagues

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has cracked a lot of political crockery

Shane Ross

Every china shop fears the proverbial bull. The concoction that houses the current coalition’s crockery is permanently fragile. There are lightweight pieces of coalition china perched precariously on every political shelf; sensitive egos tiptoeing around every slippery floorboard; long-standing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael figurines that have been left undisturbed; the political equivalents of fine porcelain, willow pattern, flimsy bone china and even more robust stoneware decorating the shaky cabinet table. Somehow, they wobble along together.

From time to time, a teacup or two tumbles off a shelf, but the store remains open. That is until a bull arrives, causing mayhem on the premises. Under most governments, when a bull has run amok the splintered political pieces are swept up fairly quickly. Or they are rapidly glued back together with the magic ointment known as political office. Unfortunately, in this coalition’s case, there’s a difference: the bull is about to become the manager of the china shop.