Ms Beverley Flynn's time as a member of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party came to an end in less than an hour last night. "It was remarkably clean," said one Munster TD. "Bertie came prepared with a full file. He didn't use all of it, but he came prepared." Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent, reports.
During her defence, Ms Flynn complained about the lack of support given to her by parliamentary party colleagues during her RTÉ libel action.
"She said the Fianna Fáil of 20, 30 years ago would have backed each other better. That annoyed a lot of people," one TD commented.
In particular, Ms Flynn compared her support with the "strong support" given by Sinn Féin to the Colombia Three, fellow TDs quoted her as saying.
In a clear criticism of Mr Ahern, she said she frequently came into meetings of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party to find it "acting like 75 independents".
The motion to expel was moved by the Government Chief Whip, Ms Mary Hanafin, and seconded by the Cork North Central TD, Mr Billy Kelleher.
Laying out the case for expulsion the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, pulled few punches, quoting from the Supreme Court judgment that Ms Flynn did not have a reputation worth saving.
"He was sending out a clear signal to the National Executive that he is not to be challenged on Friday night. He went for her knees," said one TD. "It was the biggest hatchet job that I have seen him do for a while. He was going to take her out, and that was it."
Fianna Fáil, the Taoiseach had said, had to expel Ms Flynn and stick by "high standards in public life".
"Otherwise, he said, the ethics code would be seen to be meaningless," said another TD.
Mr Ahern said it was "a sad day" for the parliamentary party. "On an occasion like this we have to take the hard decision, but it is the right decision," one TD quoted the Taoiseach as saying.
Ms Flynn's defence was interrupted after Fine Gael called a quorum vote, which dragged 11 TDs away to the chamber.
Eventually, others had to join them to bring the attendance up to 20 so that it could continue debating electronic voting legislation.
"Bertie and Bev ended up chatting to each other because they were nearest to each other. They both looked uncomfortable. But it was a deadly serious conversation," one source said.
Shortly afterwards, Ms Flynn was able to continue her defence, saying: "I think he probably questioned the fact that I was taking the parliamentary party to a motion on expulsion for the third time.
"That was something I vigorously defended because I feel it was absolutely my right to stand up and have my say. I believe that very, very strongly.
"I outlined in fact the two other separate occasions when in fact I went before the parliamentary party. I feel that that was my right," she told The Irish Times last night. Following her defence, in which she had declared her pride in her father, Mr Pádraig Flynn, the Taoiseach spoke again to insist he had nothing personally against the family.
The motion was put by the parliamentary party chairman, Mr Séamus Kirk TD. "Eleven or 12 TDs said Yes, and that was that," said a colleague.
Following the meeting, Ms Flynn said she was content not to push the matter to a vote. "I have an awful lots of friends and colleagues in the parliamentary party. It was not fair to call on anybody to try and support you when the Taoiseach has basically already decided the matter, so the motion was agreed," she said.
She said she was "absolutely looking forward" to Friday's meeting of the party national executive, which will be asked to expel her from the party itself.
"I am looking forward to having my say with the organisation. I will be pretty much saying the exact same things that I have said up there.
"And I do believe that the FF organisation around the country feel that this is a step too far," said Ms Flynn, noting that Mr Ahern would need a two-thirds majority vote.
She said that, while Mayo Fianna Fáil "did not want me to be expelled from the parliamentary party and the organisation, they would have lived with an expulsion from the parliamentary party. Personally, I am not lobbying anybody, but there will be people in the organisation in Mayo, definitely."