Under Kenny, Fine Gael is neither Christian nor is it democratic

We knew that a coalition government that included Labour would make certain demands on the social issues. We could have guessed that a marriage referendum would be on the cards, for example, and that Catholic schools would find themselves in the firing line.

But what we never imagined is that Kenny would take to Labour's social issues agenda with such gusto. For example, we never imagined in a million years that he would preside over the closing of the Irish embassy to the Holy See or deliver that swingeing attack on the Vatican at the end of his first Dáil term.

Even Labour didn't expect that. No country in living memory had closed down its embassy to the Holy See in a fit of anger. No Western leader in living memory, not even the fanatically anti-clerical Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spanish Prime Minister from 2004-2011) had done such a thing.

The closing of the embassy and the attack on the Vatican were prompted by the report into abuse in the Cloyne diocese. That report showed how the diocese was failing to deal with reports of child abuse - almost all of them historical - in the way it should have been. Bishop John Magee had previously - and rightly - resigned as a result of the failings.

However, the attack on the Vatican was still extraordinary, as was the decision to close our embassy to the Holy See.

Other countries had witnessed clerical child abuse scandals, including America, Britain, Canada and Australia. But none of them had closed their embassy to the Holy See and none had seen their leader launch such an attack on the Vatican.

Then again, the Catholic Church in those countries was never anything like as dominant as it was here. I think that partly explains why Kenny reacted as he did.

But it only partly explains it.

He never would have delivered that speech if he feared a significant public backlash or a significant media backlash. That's why it wasn't as brave as a lot of commentators suggested. Bravery is when you're willing to act on a point of principle regardless of the cost.

This is why Lucinda Creighton and the other politicians who lost the Fine Gael party whip in 2013 for voting against the abortion bill are much braver. They did pay a price for their actions.

That abortion bill was the next big surprise the Government had in store for us.

Fine Gael explicitly promised that it would not legislate for abortion on the grounds of the X-case ruling of 1992. It won pro-life votes on this basis.

It claimed that the promise was made before the European Court of Human Rights declared our law on abortion lacked clarity. But the promise was made after that.

The fact is that Fine Gael allowed itself to be bumped into legislating for abortion on the ground of a threat of suicide because it was bumped into it by the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar (from blood poisoning), by the Labour Party, from its own liberal members, and by the media.

For good measure, no opt-out for Catholic hospitals was allowed. Catholic hospitals like the Mater and St Vincent's in Dublin must perform abortions under the terms of the new abortion law.

This is extreme. It is commonplace around the world for even publicly funded Catholic hospitals to be exempted from having to perform abortions.

Kenny's Government was once more determined that the State would put the Church in its 'place' to an extent found in few other countries.

Once again, Kenny was called 'brave' but there was no real price to be paid for his bravery, not in net terms anyway.

Fine Gael did lose seven members of the parliamentary party (one has since returned), and a few percentage points of support, but Kenny knew that if he didn't cave into the media, and to the Labour Party, he would pay a bigger price down the road.

It hasn't stopped there. Kenny has been happy to see Labour go after Catholic schools, with other denominational schools being collateral damage.

The admissions policy of Catholic schools has been attacked. Their employment policy has been attacked. Their ethos has been attacked.

And of course, we have the Children and Family Relationships Bill and the upcoming marriage referendum.

The former is at the very far end of the liberal spectrum in its ideology. The later is essentially being shoved down our throats. How many voters really think the referendum is a high priority? Is it even 10pc?

Enda has obviously become a convert to the 'modern family' view of things, set out in this paper over the course of the week.

The 'modern family' is contrasted with the 'traditional family' which consists of mother, father and child. The former seems to be inclusive and non-judgemental, the latter more 'narrow' and 'rigid'.

But before we 'celebrate' the modern family too much, consider first that in many cases what makes a family 'modern' and 'non-traditional' is the absence of either the mother or the father.

It is the presence of both the mother and the father under the same roof that qualifies a family as 'traditional'.

The more 'modern' we become, therefore, the more children will grow up in households from which either the mother or the father is absent.

It is so strange. The European People's Party (EPP), the group in the European Parliament to which Fine Gael belongs, issued a statement on the family a few weeks ago that Pope Francis could have written. Maybe Enda should march Fine Gael out of the EPP in protest?

Fine Gael was once a Christian Democratic party. Under Enda Kenny it has left the last traces of that heritage behind.

Nor is it even very democratic. The ruthless use of the party whip and centralised control has seen to that.

Who would have believed that in four years as Taoiseach, Enda Kenny would lead his party, and the country, on such a march?