The fact that that has been agreed by both parties doesn’t rule out lines being drawn in the sand ahead of time by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Both will be more than conscious of one particular danger accompanying their time in power — of being viewed as too similar to each other given how they’ve coalesced in government, particularly when viewed through the prism of Sinn Féin’s soaring performances in opinion polls.

Mary Lou McDonald and her colleagues will no doubt be stressing the interchangeable nature of the two main Government partners in the next election, so the Taoiseach’s comments about “bad politics” on the part of Fine Gael and the Green Party are understandable — as are the attacks from those Coalition partners to begin with. 

The parties have other considerations also.

When Varadkar steps up to become Taoiseach next month, there will be keen interest the resulting Cabinet reshuffle, and in particular in the current Taoiseach’s plans, given speculation on how long more he intends to lead his party.

Reports that Martin is interested in foreign affairs in next month’s reshuffle are particularly interesting. Iveagh House is one of the plum positions in any Cabinet, but obviously it would mean a good deal more foreign travel for the Cork native.

As a student of history, he won’t need to be reminded that the last Cork Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, was out of the country on official business when events outflanked him and effectively ended his tenure.