Dail Sketch/Frank McNally: Just when the Government thought it was safe to go back in the water, there was more trouble offshore yesterday, this time in Kerry.
You could almost hear the theme from Jaws playing before Leaders' Questions as the Taoiseach paddled out to face the Opposition, apparently oblivious to the danger.
It was Enda Kenny who raised the subject of "Punchestown-by-the-sea", his term for the Kenmare marine centre controversy. Built with Exchequer funding and then demolished (except for the pier) because of planning infringements, the centre might have been a valid project, the Fine Gael leader conceded.
But drawing a loose link with the Castlebar-by-the-Thames bank account incident, he saw more issues here about public trust in government.
Specifically, he wanted to know why the Taoiseach approved a "letter of comfort" for the Kenmare development at the request of Kerry TD Jackie Healy-Rae before any project appraisal.
The Government depended then on Mr Healy-Rae's support, and his lobbying for the marine centre - an obvious example of pier pressure - clearly carried weight.
But Mr Kenny had a target other than Jackie. The draft comfort letter was prepared by the Taoiseach's programme manager, Gerry Hickey, with a recommendation signed simply "Gerry": a fact from which the Fine Gael leader derived great pleasure. Did Mr Ahern approve this "letter from Gerry?" he asked. Did Gerry's remit extend to ratifying capital projects without appraisal?
The Fine Gael leader was playing Tom to the Government's Gerry, and he had his tail up. So did his party colleagues, forcing the Taoiseach to respond against a background of sustained heckling.
As Mr Ahern recited the litany of criteria applied to projects such as Kenmare ("contribution to rural development, contribution to community development"), a voice shouted: "...contribution to Fianna Fáil!"
On Mr Healy-Rae's lobbying, however, the Taoiseach got some of his own back.
"I can't walk the corridors of this House without TDs of all parties lobbying me about capital projects. So let's stop the hypocrisy."
One of the controversial aspects of the Kenmare centre is that most of it is separated from the seafront by a road.
However, given Fianna Fáil's problems with offshore activity lately, it's hardly surprising that they should be more comfortable with inland developments.
Pat Rabbitte returned to a heated exchange of another kind; the one between Tom Gilmartin and Padraig Flynn. Beverley Cooper Flynn's insistence the night before that, in organising investments for her father, she had given him a letter about his tax responsibilities did not impress the Labour leader.
"That is the same letter that she and other colleagues in her bank issued to hundreds of people with hot money, and which has now led to €48.5 million being recouped by the Revenue Commissioners - so much for the standard letter.".
But after Tuesday's "personal explanation", Ms Cooper Flynn was back in her seat yesterday, and saying nothing.