Full coverage: Fine Gael

In a way, the smaller parties and the independents reflect the patchwork landscape that is today’s Ireland. This is the cohort worth watching in the context of the local, European and general elections.

The appointment of rural TD and SME champion Peter Burke as minister for enterprise marks a shift in the Government’s attention towards the domestic economy, where expectations are high.

Available to serve, Simon Coveney received deafening silence in response from the next Taoiseach Simon Harris. Now, for the first time in his political career, Action Man Coveney is in self-induced observe-and-reflect mode.

The outgoing Taoiseach’s unusual personality in Irish politics helps explain why he has run out of road. But does the small pool of future leaders illustrate a wider disillusionment with political careers?

Bruton's Rainbow Coalition laid the foundations of the Good Friday Agreement and cemented Ireland’s position as the poster child of the EU. The late Taoiseach came into his own on the world stage.

Fine Gael began its run as a major player in coalition governments just ten months after the Tories became the lead players in Downing Street. Is mental fatigue a factor in Dáil Eireann as well as in Westminster? In both jurisdictions, the business season is approaching.

If a state of high dudgeon can be reached in the current circumstances, how will the political parties cope when high-grade manure drops from the sky without warning as inevitably it will?

The next general election might be Leo Varadkar's one last chance to show that those who put their trust in voting for him as leader in 2017 knew what they were doing.

The government have reached the halfway point but, as Leo Varadkar returns as Taoiseach, the prospect of one of the most significant elections in modern Irish history will dominate everything before too long.

Leo Varadkar was seen as a once in a generation politician by many who voted for when he was elected Fine Gael leader in 2017. Five years later, after a bruising general election and a series of crises, Fine Gael no longer knows what it stands for.