A fine FG-FF bromance

CONVICTION is growing across Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil that the high-wire negotiations between Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin over Frances Fitzgerald have significantly extended the life of the government.

Senior sources within both parties have noted ‘a subtle change in the public exchanges’ between the men. One top Fine Gael source noted: ‘It’s not quite a bromance but things have changed; they might manage to be frenemies.’ A Fine Gael Minister said: ‘There is a big difference in tone. I don’t think they will ever go jogging in the Park, but a working relationship has been forged.’

The fact that Martin is seen as having won their first big bout may have enhanced the relationship. Senior FF figures noted that ‘a thaw has entered the relationship’ which had been characterised as ‘an icy distance’.

A Government spokesman declined to speculate on the bromance issue but conceded that the meetings between the pair had ‘been useful and constructive’.