Straight talking Coughlan squares up to Opposition ahead of break

DÁIL SKETCH:POLITICAL SIX guns at the ready, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan squared up to the Opposition onslaught. The mood was upbeat.

There were comfortable Government majorities in a series of votes on the Order of Business, unlike Thursday, when the margin was as low as two.

The Fianna Fáil whip had clearly been lashed, with Bertie Ahern, a rare attender of Dáil proceedings, among those present. Egged on by backbenchers, giddy at the prospect of a nine-week reprieve from parliament, Coughlan even suggested that she might “entice” Labour leader Eamon Gilmore outside to continue the battle.

“But I do not think we will do that,” she added.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny accused Government TDs of wanting to escape, adding that they had been “lambasted, embarrassed and beaten down after what has been one of the most lamentable performances by a Government in the past 35 years”.

He challenged the Government to come back to the House next week, “and we will have another round”.

Gilmore joined in the attack. “I appreciate that the Government is tired, exhausted, bruised, battered and beaten,” he declared.

This was greeted by howls of protest from the Cabinet ranks. “We are full of energy,” insisted Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.

Suggesting a period in opposition, Gilmore offered the Coalition a break from the exertions of Government for longer than nine weeks.

He rounded on Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, accusing him of introducing the Criminal Justice Bill to acquire a political reputation. “You said you wanted action,” snapped Ahern.

Eventually, they gave way to Sinn Féin’s Caoimhgín Ó Caoláin who thundered that the Government had the country “scundered”.

They could not agree to a nine-week break so that the Government could “shower their heads”, he declared.

The Tánaiste was taking no prisoners.

“I smirked when I heard the word ‘scundered’,” she said.

Sinn Féin, she added, was itself scundered, Fine Gael in a lament, and she wanted to tell the Labour leader that the Government was “lean, mean and very fit for purpose”.

When the traditional end of term good wishes were extended, Kenny expressed the hope that Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue would achieve “some serenity and peace” in the weeks ahead.

If O’Donoghue hoped to find it on the beaches of his native Kerry, Labour’s Pat Rabbitte, a long-time holidaymaker in the county, sounded a warning note.

He said that the failure to publish the An Bord Snip Nua report would mean “bits of it will be leaked during the holidays as the beaches of Kerry beckon”.

It would, he claimed, become "like an edition of Lady Chatterley's Loveras it is passed around".

As Rabbitte pursued matters, the Ceann Comhairle reminded him that the Tánaiste could not discuss what happened at Cabinet meetings.

“After the Cabinet meeting?” queried Rabbitte.

“That is after the ball is over kind of stuff,” replied O’Donoghue.

The parliamentary ball dragged on until the last waltz was called. The ritual dance resumes on September 16th.