The tragic death of Hugh Coveney will bring in its wake another by-election and proof of the fragility of this Government which, if it falls, will almost certainly be replaced by yet another Irish solution to an Irish problem - a coalition between one of the two central tribal parties and a party of the left.
The extraordinary truth is that though politicians of the Republic are fine fellows indeed for advising Northern parties to sit down and share government, they are incapable of doing so themselves. There is a reason for this; our politics remain largely the politics of the tribe.
It used to be said that the enduring hostility between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail was a legacy of the Civil War, but we know that now to be nonsense. The inter-party government in the late 1940s, when the hostilities were as close to them as Sunningdale is to us today, drew from opposing participants from the the Civil War.
Opposite sides
Democratic Left shared government with Fine Gael and not merely had their antecedents ta ken opposite sides in 1921, but also more recently - the former in the shape of the Stalinist Official Sinn Fein, had an IRA which bombed Aldershot, which dabbled in political assassination in the North - the Official IRA murdered Senator Jack Barnhill and shot and seriously injured John Taylor and engaged in numerous acts of terrorism, even while Fine Gael set the Heavy Gang on the trail of terrorists.
Cleansed of those paramilitary associations, disarmed, re named and relaundered, Democratic Left could serve in government with its erstwhile enemies in Fine Gael and come to a mutual respect which surprised both.
Other differences which have emerged within Irish life have proved to be surprisingly assailable - none more so than the split within Fianna Fail which led to the emergence of the Progressive Democrats, who one might have been sure would never serve in government under Charles Haughey, the very reason for their existence. How little one knows . . .
Yet the Fine Gael-Fianna Fail division remains, enduring, unbridgeable and as tenacious as ever. With the balance of political power now permanently altered away from single-party government well into the foreseeable future, this cleavage has increasingly important consequences.
The Progressive Democrats are finished. The two main parties have only parties of the left to do business with, and these - quite understandably - demand a high price for their participation in government.
The consequence is extraordinary - whoever rules in Ireland, the left gets into government regardless of how small a proportion of the overall vote it gets and is able to influence policy accordingly. It is a quite bizarre political system, made possible by the extraordinarily powerful sense of tribe which remains at the core of the biparty system.
As I have said before - and it is worth repeating as the prospect of another coalition government draws closer - Fine Gael remains basically the party of the old English and Normans, and Fianna Fail is at heart the party of the Gael.
Conventional wisdom
The conventional historical wisdom is that the division between the two populations, which had been clear and unmistakable for centuries, vanished during Penal times.
This is simply not the case, for we know that divisions of identity within society do not easily disappear. Castes are extraordinarily powerful engines within communities, and not just in Ireland. Obviously, they form the very basis for Indian society, but they exist elsewhere in subtler, less obvious forms.
The fundamental political division within English life for centuries could be said to be Norman (Whig) versus AngloSaxon (Tory), until the former divided over Home Rule, one becoming Liberal, the other being absorbed by its old adversary.
For Whig in Irish life, read Fine Gael; for Tory, read Fianna Fail. Whigs, English or Irish, would tend to be more European, more open to nonnational ideas than their Tory fellow countrymen. Tories feel their party represents the heart of the nation. Whigs, English or Irish, never felt or feel that they represent the nation; they feel they represent the best and wisest part of it.
They pride themselves on their relative cosmopolitanism, on their fluency in foreign languages, on their daughter's ability to play the piano.
Unlike the formalised caste division in India, caste divisions with these islands have little real articulated sense of self. They are almost undefined identities, learnt at the hearth and nourished in a thousand little subconscious ways.
Fine Gael children will learn a certain aloofness and a respect for law and social manners; Fianna Fail children will learn that they are of the sod and no matter how far they rise in society, they are never above the plain people of Ireland.
The very plainness of Fianna Fail identity and its reverence for the chieftain-figure (admittedly diminished by Bertie Ahern's engagingly modest personality) is never more evident than at an ardfheis, but there is no chieftain figure within Fine Gael.
Given names
Its covert Anglo-Norman culture disdains such personality worship. Its identity is evident in other ways - Fine Gael sons tend to be called Paul and Richard, Peter and Andrew, names which are not often found within Fianna Fail families, where you will, conversely, find names like Eamon, Rory and Seamus, which are far less common in Fine Gael families.
In the last Dail, all Richards, Andrews, Peters and Pauls were Fine Gael, all Eamons, Rorys and Seamuses were Fianna Fail. Few things in life declare identity like a given name.
It appears these identities are politically immiscible. Either side would rather collogue in power with leftish factions (whose ideologies they detest) than share control over the instruments of government with the other lot. Yet despite this, each party urges Northerners to come together and share power.
If Anglo-Norman and indigenous Gael cannot share power after six or so centuries in shared residence, how can Anglo-Scot and Gael after a mere three?