So it begins, the post-Kenny era where overcrowding at A&E departments nationwide has become endemic, homelessness is at an all-time high, and vulture funds run amok preying on their fellow men.
Nevertheless, the man whose face was plastered on the cover of Time Magazine and became the poster boy for leading the charge on financial inequality to safeguard the status quo, has now left the building to give a chance to the younger generation, as it were.
Leo Varadkar, whose rise to the top proves that Ireland is a promised land of sorts for the sons of (privileged) immigrants, has now taken pity to Simon Coveney’s ignominious defeat and granted him the consolation price of being Deputy Leader of the party for while.
Coveney himself is no stranger to shunning the destitute. Under his reign, homelessness has spiralled out of control, for example, and showing no signs of improving.
Let’s hope he does better in his new and somewhat devoid of real responsibility role