Struggling is somewhat relative. Either Fianna Fail or Fine Gael will form the majority party of the next Government. Between them they’re likely to pull in close to 100 of the 160 available seats.
I would say Varadkar has never really been outwardly popular. He won the FG leadership based mostly on the Parliamentary party vote. Because that accounted for 2/3 of all voting rights the fact that the FG membership voted heavily for the other guy was pretty redundant.
I thought SF were a bit doomed but Mary Lou McDonald has so far proved a very capable leader and her message appears to be landing.
My guess right now is FF to get about 60/62 seats and to form a government with The Greens and either Labour or a few independents.
Zero tariffs will be attached to an agreement over freedom of movement of EU nationals, that’s what my friend in Whitehall is saying. Expect a concession or two when it comes to asylum seekers that have arrived in the UK from the EU that will somehow be spun into “We’re protecting our borders, like we promised”.
By the time this is all resolved we’ll wonder whether it was worth it all.
Just checked a map, the UK is still in Europe. So make sure you correct anyone boasting that we’ve “left Europe” as that would require a wacky infrastructure project that even Boris wouldn’t endorse.