Dáil Sketch/Miriam Lord:Under the shadow of Madame la Guillotine, life in the Dáil chamber went on as normal.
Opposition deputies sniffing the air and smelling rats. Government deputies sitting comfortably in the posh seats. Everyone in pre-Christmas good humour, save for Bertie Ahern, who looked very down in the mouth.
Perhaps it was all the talk of guillotines yesterday that made him take on the air of a condemned man.
It certainly seemed as if the prospect of arriving by State tumbrel at Dublin Castle tomorrow was weighing heavily on the Taoiseach's mind. Throughout leaders questions, Bertie looked as if he wanted to be somewhere else. With his lawyers, perhaps.
And yet, the guillotine holds no fear for Bertie Ahern. In fact, his governments have been using it regularly to slice through the time it takes to pass legislation, particularly when they want to get it through without much debate.
They're at it again this week. Eamon Gilmore, backed up by Enda Kenny and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, were not happy at the way the Health Miscellaneous Bill was being belted through all stages yesterday. It's a complicated bill, needed apparently to iron out a legal technicality governing the role of a number of State bodies.
Not much cause for concern there, most people would think. However, just in case, people are employed by the Opposition to scrutinise pending legislation in case the Government is trying to pull a fast one.
And so it was that one of Labour's legislative leprechauns spotted the few passages in the middle of the Bill to do with selling public hospital land to private developers.
This was why Bill had been elevated to "emergency" status. In Dáil Éireann, unlike our hospitals, emergency cases are rushed through the House, with a concerned Government pushing it through the corridors of power to make sure that the outcome is the one they want.
While the Government happily and disgracefully leaves all sorts of important legislation lying around on trolleys, they can move like lightening when they want pet Bills passed into law. Remember the one that reunited former minister Woods with his pension? Yesterday's bill, argued Eamon Gilmore, was nothing more than "camouflage" to provide cover for getting through procedures needed to get the Government's hospital co-location policy under way.
The Taoiseach didn't agree. He shrugged and mumbled and sighed the Opposition would have loads of time to debate the issue before the vote.
Take out the offending paragraphs to do with handing over public land for sale to private hospital developers, the Opposition urged, hoping to some festive goodwill from Bertie. He ignored them, giving his blessing to the guillotining of the Bill.
"This is now the new parliamentary tactic when something is particularly tricky" concluded Eamon. "Taoiseach Ahern's Government has been particularly fond of the guillotine" he remarked. Was that Bertie swallowing hard and going a little pale at the mention of the word? The Labour leader said that since the Dáil began in January 1919, legislation has been passed by guillotine on 691 occasions. However, of that number, 307 bills have been guillotined since June 26, 1997, when Bertie Ahern took over.
A very interesting statistic, demonstrating either extreme laziness or a "smokes and daggers" approach to business from Bertie and his Government.
Given the nature of the discussion, the Taoiseach could have used the opportunity to enjoy a little gallows, or guillotine, humour. But clearly, his heart wasn't in it yesterday.
Probably because his neck will be in it tomorrow. He can only hope it doesn't work as efficiently in Dublin Castle as it does in Leinster House.