Political Correspondent John Manley

Leo Vardakar has parked his tank on the DUP’s lawn.

It’s a rainbow-coloured tank that fires nothing more than pro-equality rhetoric but in some quarters his decision to attend an event linked to Saturday’s Pride parade in Belfast will be interpreted as deliberately provocative.

We shouldn’t really be too surprised by the Fine Gaels' leader’s actions.

When he succeeded Enda Kenny in June he made it clear that he’d use his office to advance LGBT rights across Ireland – and nowhere are those rights more in need of advancing than in the north, which remains the only part of these islands where same sex marriage is unlawful.

Ostensibly, somebody who supports equality showing solidarity with those who are still striving to be equal in the eyes of the law is no big deal.

However, when you’re the head of a government who plans to cross into another jurisdiction where a large section of the population regards you with suspicion and in some cases, open antipathy, then matters get rather complicated.

Mr Varadkar’s recent remarks about the operation of the post-Brexit border have already led to a silly season war of words with the DUP, who after a weekend statement peppered with admonishment, had the audacity to accuse the taoiseach of “megaphone diplomacy”.

The Fine Gael leader will meet the DUP in Belfast on Friday ahead of Saturday’s engagement at Pride and we can assume that any concerns Arlene Foster or her party has about his ‘intrusion’ will be aired then.

Mr Vardakar may also be told to display greater reticence, given that same sex marriage is one of the issues in the prolonged Stormont negotiations and what unionists would characterise as "an internal UK matter".

But so far the reaction to the taoiseach's Pride plan – first revealed in The Irish News yesterday – has been muted.

One almost suspects that the Fine Gael leader will himself be disappointed that he’s failed to elicit nothing more than a shrug from those whose predecessors threw snowballs at Sean Lemass, who history records as being entirely heterosexual and socially conservative.

The DUP, perhaps with one eye on Britain and the party’s pact with the Tories, has been quick to gag its public representatives by ordering them not to speak to the media on the issue without authorisation.

It seems Mrs Foster’s party has learned from its leader’s ‘hungry crocodile’ remark that strong, condemnatory language can sometimes be counter-productive.

It’s either that or the DUP isn’t genuinely that bothered by the taoiseach’s attendance at the Pride event. If the latter turns out to be the case, it would appear we live in changed times.