There is no prospect for now of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Sinn Féin acquiring even a shadow of the dominance that was associated with a governing party until a decade ago.

This is an age of Lilliputian politics: big issues are too much; reality is too unpleasant and real solutions are either too complex or require more time and determination than we want to give. So instead we focus on symptoms rather than causes.

The cost of living, a main concern of voters in the two byelections in Dublin Central and Galway West, was chiefly expressed as a demand for subsidies, not the structural change that would bring lasting benefit.

We don’t know what the world will look like when the next general election is held, probably in 2029. But a takeaway from the byelections is that in addition to those who came out to vote against the status quo, there are proportionately more who remained at home and who will be available to vote for what may turn out to be the most complex Dáil in Irish history.

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The paradox of last Friday’s byelections is that the increasing fragmentation of Irish politics masked a unity so complete it went........

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