Dail Sketch/Frank McNally: The Taoiseach was being pressed on the idea of an annual memorial day to mark the Famine.
On balance, he was unenthusiastic. "There's nothing worse than when you organise commemorations and nobody turns up," he said.
Mr Ahern was speaking from bitter experience. It was exactly two weeks yesterday since Government TDs received a letter from the chief whip appealing on the Taoiseach's behalf for improved attendance at Dáil sittings. But the anniversary went unmarked, and even as he warned about State occasions being ignored, Mr Ahern was one of only three TDs on the Government benches.
There was a good turn-out in the public gallery, where visitors included Ardal O'Hanlon, son of the Ceann Comhairle and star of a much-loved Channel 4 sit-com. Yet somehow this only added to the desolation below. The Fianna Fáil and PD benches were emptier than Craggy Island in winter, and the sole inhabitants - Bertie Ahern, Willie O'Dea and Tom Kitt - looked as lonely as priests without a housekeeper.
A forlorn Taoiseach was also asked about plans for the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls (which falls in 2007), and was equally underwhelmed.
The flight of four TDs to Argentina - on a fact-finding mission by the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, the Marine, and Natural Resources - was among the reasons for the depopulation around him.
But the lessons of 1607, when Ireland's feudal leaders went into exile, have been well learned. With their eyes on another big event due in 2007, Ireland's modern-day chieftains have a strong attachment to their constituencies, especially after long weekends.
The onset of summer normally sees a rise in the pollen count, and a fall-off in the number of patients on trolleys in hospital A&E departments. There is no sign of such a development yet, unfortunately, with Enda Kenny reporting 237 occupied trolleys across the State on Tuesday. Like a Met Éireann spokesman, the Fine Gael leader predicts high trolley counts in many areas in the coming days, and warns that susceptible members of the public should avoid exposure to situations likely to make them ill.
Speaking on Leaders' Questions, Mr Kenny questioned the wisdom of the Government's new policy of putting extra beds in wards, especially when the Irish Nurses' Organisation claimed there were unused beds.
He also raised the case of Tallaght Hospital where elective surgery was suspended recently.And while the Taoiseach defended the Government's 10-point plan to ease the crisis, it's clear the Opposition still sees health as its main chance of performing elective surgery on the ruling parties in 2007.
Government attendance was slightly better for Leaders' Questions. But there was still considerable excess capacity on the benches behind the Taoiseach. Overcrowding is unlikely to be a problem yet.