Nothing epitomised the eternally under-estimated capacity for Europe to wreak unexpected havoc on domestic politics more than the 20 dramatic resignations from the British Labour frontbench. After two rebellions of our own, we are more used to it, but it has all come as a bit of a shock to the British.

As the shock and awe began to seep across an initially mirthful Europe, if he was watching the travails of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny could be excused for experiencing profound feelings of déjà vu. The collapse was eerily similar to the attempted Fine Gael palace coup of 2010, which almost consigned our leader to the foothills of history.

What will have caused Enda to shiver far more, however, was the brief spectacle of David Cameron issuing his post-dated resignation note on the steps of Downing Street. Enda and the British prime minister have, courtesy of the similar trajectory of their political lives, had a special relationship right down to Enda’s copying of the Tory party’s homework for Election 2016.

Last week, however, the exit of the apparently impregnable Cameron provided a Taoiseach, already stuck running up the wrong side of the political escalator, with another unwanted example of how swiftly the ground can collapse from under your feet in modern politics.

Even in “new politics”, though, the glass can sometimes be half full, for the travails of his political friend have provided Enda with an accidental opportunity to secure a lasting political legacy and, more important still, extend his period in office.

The chance could not be more unexpected for since securing non-power, Enda has – within mere weeks in the job – already been attracting the dangerous why-are-you-still-here question. However, now, out of the clear blue Tory sky and the far cloudier Labour firmament, a real legacy issue has dropped into the Taoiseach’s lap. It is not attractive, but legacy issues are rarely pretty.

While we may blame him for many things, the Taoiseach cannot be held to account for the Mad Dogs & Englishmen-style Brexit vote.

But how he manages the most serious political diplomatic challenge Ireland has faced since World War II and the Northern Troubles will define his legacy.

Now a Taoiseach and a Government with the weakest mandate in the history of the State must negotiate the most turbulent recent international waters we have faced since, under the gun from Europe, the Irish people bailed out the banks of our European masters.

How we manage this, while maintaining a working relationship with a fracturing UK entity, reduces the dilemma Solomon had with the baby to second-tier status.

Enda must also do it in the knowledge that Europe has been a treacherous friend who is well capable of tossing Ireland into a ditch if the greater good is served by such a decision.

The Taoiseach, of course, is not alone, for the new Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has landed into the most interesting times agriculture has faced since the rebellious 1970s.

Minister Creed is facing into an utterly unwelcome political and economic vista when it comes to Ireland’s €5.1bn agricultural trade with the UK.

Ultimately, though, Mr Kenny is the boss whose performance will determine how Ireland survives the consequences of Brexit over the broad canvass of agriculture, trade, tourism and the economy.

When it comes to a crisis which is of unique importance to rural Ireland in particular, our political class and the Taoiseach face one other existential challenge. The bewildered elite have attempted to claim Brexit is motivated primarily by national chauvinism and racist impulses.

A wintry wave of discontent which wears a white collar as well as a blue one and includes no shortage of the rural dispossessed is sweeping across Europe and America.

Within the UK, Mr Cameron waggled a vulnerable posterior in front of an alienated electorate; Brexit provided them with an opportunity to hurt the elites who have paid lip service to their concerns for decades.

The Taoiseach must now build a national and international coalition to ensure Ireland is not a collateral victim of this peasant’s revolt against a backdrop of similar levels of alienation in rural Ireland.

This absence of political credit means that if Enda does not swiftly seize control of this issue and rural Ireland starts to suffer, he may be getting his coat and going far quicker than he plans.

Last week, a triumphant Boris Johnson proclaimed that “project fear is over”.

It might be for Boris, but for Enda and the rest of our lot, project fear has just begun.