Sinn Féin, according to Michael Noonan, is a “threat to democracy, and has been for a long time”.
Most ministers have fraught relationships with their opposition shadow. Over the past few years there has seemed to be an added edge to exchanges between Mr Noonan and Pearse Doherty, the Sinn Féin TD.
“I don’t think it ever got personal with Pearse,” he said. “Michael McGrath [Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman] would share a lot of the same policy positions that I share. He is a competent parliamentarian and he knows his stuff.
“Pearse knows his stuff as well. His ideology and policy positions are different from mine and he has a different type of debating style from Michael McGrath, but it is not personal. Within the limits of our disagreements, he is pretty good at what he does.”
With Mr Noonan stepping down, the new taoiseach will have scope to make chances to the current arrangement, if he wishes.
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There has been speculation that once a new taoiseach is in place, the Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure could once again be merged.
Sources say that this would require Dáil approval, and with the glacial pace that legislation is passing through the Oireachtas it is highly unlikely that there will be any proposal during this parliament.
The speculation is that Paschal Donohoe will move from expenditure to finance and that Richard Burton will move from education to expenditure.