With a programme for government agreed, and with the sign off of the parliamentary parties of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and The Green Party secured, all that now stands in the way of the Fianna Fáil leader becoming Taoiseach again just nine years after being hounded out of office by a bankrupt country is Fianna Fáil itself.
Micheál Martin must convince Fianna Fáil membership to approve their programme for government and their coalition with the old enemy Fine Gael, as well as The Greens, but is facing serious opposition from grass roots members.
An organisation called Fairer Future have sprung up in opposition to the deal, describing themselves as "1000+ Fianna Fáil members who are voting NO to this coalition", vowing to "stop this bad deal." The group includes over 50 councillors.
The fight will go on between the two factions over the coming days on substantive grounds, but in classic Irish political fashion, it's always quickly gone down a farcical route.
Virgin Media's Political Correspondent Gavan Reilly noted this morning on Twitter that Fairer Future's tweets has some very suspicious support.
Among the RTs of one of the most recent ‘Fairer Future’ tweets pic.twitter.com/Ec1GJ8nd5p
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 16, 2020
Of course, nothing is ever straight forward in Fianna Fáil politics. While might seem like a simple case of promoting your tweet with bots, a supporter Fairer Future claimed that this is actually an attempt by the big dogs at HQ to undermine them.
A supporter of Fairer Future says the bots are part of an effort by FF HQ to discredit the campaign
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 16, 2020
It's clear that they're playing chess over there at Fianna Fáil while the rest of us muddle through at draughts.
Who is really behind the dirty tricks? Will we ever know?
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