Sinn Féin Councillor Seán Crowe, who will be fighting the Fine Gael TD for a Dáil seat, said: “One day, Brian Hayes was telling voters Enda Kenny didn’t have the confidence of himself and half the Fine Gael frontbench; the next day, he loses the vote and Enda Kenny suddenly has Brian Hayes’s full confidence.

“What changed overnight?

“Was it the lure of a minister’s job in a Fine Gael/Labour government?”