When the history of this era is assessed, historians will surely scratch their heads and wonder what happened. In so doing, they may be assessing a party which turns out to be irreparably damaged by the events of the past few days.

Already, it can be classed as a textbook case of how a political party should not run its affairs. Niccolo Machiaveilli anyone?

Yesterday's (Tuesday) events were unprecedented, and amounted to pure political theater. Even at the height of the heaves and intrigues surrounding Haughey, there was never anything like it.

A critically weakened Fine Gael leader, unable to command the unity of his own party, moving a motion of confidence in an unpopular and wounded Taoiseach. It would be the stuff of comedy, if it was not so serious.

And as for the timing. Consider that this is taking place just days after two utterly damning reports into the banking and property crises which have cost Irish taxpayers tens of billions of euros.

Both the Honohan and the Regling/Watson reports found against the Fianna Fail led government, and its predecessors, in the way they contributed to the creation of a property bubble.

Blame was laid where it was due, and Brian Cowen took his share of it. The conclusion was devastating - our problems are largely home grown, and are quite distinct from the international credit crunch.

Never again can the Lehman Brothers collapse be trotted out for being the half baked explanation it always was. This self serving myth has been thoroughly debunked. The banking crisis would still have occurred says Honohan, such was the state of Anglo Irish Bank.

The reports assigned blame to the bank executives who over lent, the bank directors who failed to control the over-lending, the government for its fiscal policies fuelling property speculation, and the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank.

They comprehensively stripped the government of any remaining defences or justifications it had employed up to now. Up to last week, Fianna Fail was running scared, and its problems were mounting.

That is of course until Messrs Kenny and Bruton intervened in the face of Friday's Irish Times poll to give this beleagured government a much needed reprieve.

And now Taoiseach Brian Cowen has comfortably survived the optics of a confidence motion, while Fine Gael eviscerates itself.

No matter what the outcome of this leadership contest within Fine Gael, there will be no winners. If Enda Kenny survives, it will be in a weakened state, almost as a lame duck.

If Richard Bruton triumphs, it may turn out to be pyrrhic.
Either way what is taking place is but another example of the lack of leadership which now seems to be endemic in Irish public life