As the coins rained down on the State car the protesters' shouts grew louder and the placards were waved even more furiously.
"Your island, your yacht, your shirt, you're caught," they chanted as Mr Charles Haughey, sitting in the front seat of the black Mercedes, was driven into the upper yard of Dublin Castle yesterday morning.
The coin-throwing symbolised the money the former Taoiseach got over the years, a practice borrowed from Italians protesting at allegedly corrupt politicians. Steel barriers kept the small group well away from George's Hall where the tribunal is sitting.
Groups of tourists on guided tours gazed at the scene in some bemusement, clearly wondering at the excitement.
Arriving at around 9.15 a.m., Mr Haughey gave a single regal wave to the waiting media as the car was driven in through gates which were immediately shut behind it, shielding him from view.
The 30 or so protesters were holding placards with a picture of Mr Haughey cropped to look as if he was making a two-fingered gesture. Every few minutes the chant was alternated. "Charlie Haughey, what's the score? One law for the rich and one for the poor," was a favourite.
A group of about 50 spectators queued to get in to the tribunal. The numbers were well down on Mr Haughey's previous visit to the Castle for the McCracken tribunal in July 1997, when there were well over a hundred people.
While most of the protesters were in their 20s or 30s, the average age of the queueing spectators was considerably older.
Mr Gearoid O Bradaigh said he made no apology for being in the queue to get a seat to watch Mr Haughey giving his evidence. At the McCracken tribunal he had seen a number of other people like himself, elderly and retired, some former civil servants, who had come to watch Mr Haughey.
"They told me themselves why they had come. They had been scrimping and saving for years trying to put their children through college when all this was going on . . . They come to get a certain satisfaction," he explained.
Following his two-hour appearance Mr Haughey returned quickly to his car. Shortly after 1 p.m. the gates were opened and the former Taoiseach was driven out.
A small crowd remained to watch, and as the car drove past a man in a yellow T-shirt raised his hand in a Hitler-like salute and shouted "Hail Haughey".