Events overseas can sometimes make national politics look trivial. But as Tip O’Neill said, all politics is local, and the focus of politics here in the coming year is likely to remain overwhelmingly domestic.

One of the questions at the start of the year is whether the incipient alliance of left-wing parties can continue to grow and deepen its co-operation over the course of 2026.

On two principal occasions last year, the parties of the left co-operated to significant effect. The first was when the Coalition was formed and tried to pull a fast one in providing Opposition speaking time to Government-supporting Independents. The Opposition – literally – shouted it down, preventing the Dáil from doing its business on a couple of occasions by disrupting parliamentary procedure to such an extent that Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, then newly minted in her role, was forced to adjourn proceedings.

Two things can be true at once. The Government was in the wrong and the Opposition reaction was completely hysterical. The changes in Dáil speaking arrangements were certainly a bit of a stroke, but they weren’t a threat to the very future of Irish parliamentary democracy.

Over the top it might have been, but the Opposition’s campaign – more by accident than careful prior design – rattled the Government........

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