Yesterday a quiet step down, today a noisy showdown.
It happened quickly in the end. There was no fanfare. There was no walking down the steps of Government Buildings flanked by colleagues. There was no Othello or no talk of doing the State some service, no more of that.
Sure, the build up caused tension that became unbearable for some. Given that he had kept his own counsel nobody knew for sure what he would do.
In the end, Enda Kenny entered the Fine Gael parliamentary party rooms at 4.30pm and read out a short statement. There was no stay of execution. There was no extension. He was gone. Gone, gone. From midnight. It all ended quietly like you would blow out a candle.
And so we see two-tier coverage. Yesterday it was all about the assessments of Kenny and his legacy. Sure, he had his flaws but he confounded the zero expectations people had for him a decade ago. History will remember him kindly. His Fine Gael colleagues (including those muttering most loudly about him in recent months) spent yesterday parlaying him into the Fine Gael Pantheon.
Here are some of our own assessments, including those of Pat Leahy and Stephen Collins.
And this morning, the gears will be shifted from 'Reverse' to 'Drive' and all focus will be on the pretenders to the throne. Here is our lead story's take on it.
At least now the proxy war will come out into the public and both candidates will get a chance to show their mettle. Leo Varadkar seems to have the early momentum behind him with Simon Coveney lagging behind. Leo has been courting potential supporters for months but Simon's people are saying he is keeping his powder dry. Expect Varadkar to come out with an early show of strength, including endorsements from the party.
Fiach Kelly has developed a campaign tracker that assiduously follows the voting intentions of all parliamentarians and councillors.
Not a dickie bird
So what happens now and what to watch for?
Well, nominations close at 5pm on Saturday.
We know there are two in the race and two others have not yet ruled themselves out. They are Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald and Minister for Education Richard Bruton. Neither was saying a dickie bird last night but they will need to busy themselves acquiring eight nominations apiece if they want to be in. Even then, they will be distant also rans.
Here is Pat Leahy's take on the expected events.
The result will be announced on Friday, June 2nd, just before the Bank Holiday weekend. That will give the new leader a chance to talk to Micheal Martin and the Independent Alliance. There might be some changes to the Confidence and Supply Agreement. Expect the relationship between the new leader and the Fianna Fail leader to be Arctic.
Over the next few days, both campaigns will be launched, Varadkar's in Dublin on Saturday and Coveney's in Cork. Each of them will be hoping to get big hitters on their side. Simon Harris has already declared for Coveney and expect a few more 'big beasts', including Paschal Donohoe, to nail their colours to a particular mast. There are rumours that Donohoe will side with Varadkar (as many of the Dublin TDs will) but that has yet to be confirmed by the ever-cautious TD for Dublin Central.
The constituency boundary is no longer the walls of the Dail bars. Like other parties, Fine Gael has changed its rules for leadership contests. Members and councillors have a say. It’s not quite like Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party (or Fianna Fail for that matter) where it’s one member one vote. There are three colleges. Parliamentarians are worth 65 per cent of the vote. Councillors are worth 10 per cent. And the 25,000 members are worth 25 per cent. It’s obvious that if somebody wins big in the parliamentary party, the contest is over as one TD is worth 600 members. If it is close, though, the smaller colleges will really come into play.
There will be debates and hustings throughout the country as the contenders engage in a frenetic scramble to convince their party colleagues that they are the worthy one.
It’s the 21st century version of Haughey versus Colley (without the animus) or Bruton versus Dukes.
