The Fine Gael TD for Waterford John Deasy displayed a lack of judgment and timing last week when he questioned Enda Kenny's leadership. He believed it would represent a total failure if Fine Gael was not returned to power in the coming general election. In such circumstances, he suggested, a challenge for the top position would be a reasonable development.
Mr Deasy's views may be genuinely held, but their expression represented an unexpected bonus for the Government parties. It came as Fine Gael prepared to launch specific elements of its general election campaign. Members were beginning to shrug off the debilitating effects of a number of opinion polls that pointed to the re-election of a Fianna Fáil-led government. In such circumstances, Mr Deasy's observations represented a vote of no confidence in the party's direction and leadership.
It is not the first time the impetuous TD has caused trouble for himself and his party. Even when promoted to the prestigious position of justice spokesman by Mr Kenny in 2002, his ambition and egotism outran his appetite for hard political graft. Mr Deasy sought changes to the Fine Gael frontbench; defied the party whip by voting with the Government and was finally banished to the backbenches in 2004 when he broke the law by insisting on smoking in the Dáil bar.
Mr Deasy may have looked askance at Mr Kenny's decision to entice a number of former and retiring TDs to stand once again for the party. Their success, and any subsequent government-formation, would limit promotional opportunities. But, from a leadership point of view, maximising the number of seat gains is what this election campaign is all about. In pursuit of that goal, Fine Gael has opened the New Year by preparing a billboard campaign that will attack the Government's record on crime, on education and in relation to transport. It also plans a series of conferences for the coming weeks in which significant elements of its general election manifesto will be revealed.
There is a time and a place for everything. This distraction - for that is what it is - has been unhelpful to Mr Kenny. It has dented morale and raised questions about the party's will to win. But it has also underlined Mr Deasy's political immaturity. Successful political parties are a little like football teams. Their members are expected to combine together to defeat the opposition. Only when the contest is over do they engage in assessments and recriminations.
Some Fine Gael frontbench spokesmen have disappointed. And Mr Kenny, for all his ambition to be Taoiseach, has yet to convince the electorate he can do the job. That said, support for Fine Gael is five points higher than at the last election. And, should Labour make similar electoral gains, the road to government may open for them. The coming months will decide these matters. The election has yet to be fought and won.