Perhaps appropriately, given that yesterday was the Jewish holiday of atonement, Yom Kippur, Michael McDowell could not have been sweeter to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in his time of need.
Speaking before a lunch of the Association of European Journalists in the august surroundings of the St Stephen's Green Club in Dublin, the Progressive Democrats' leader was reluctant to get into the details surrounding preparations for Mr Ahern's Dáil statement today.
However, he was ready to offer Mr Ahern plaudits wherever he could find the opportunity. The Taoiseach had been "statesmanlike" in his negotiation of the European constitution, he said.
No doubt, the PD leader could be forgiven for praying that Mr Ahern would read a little of the history of Yom Kippur before he goes into the Dáil to make his statement this afternoon.
Considered the holiest and most solemn day of the Jewish year, observed even by the least devout, Yom Kippur's central theme is one of repentance, atonement and reconciliation.
According to the Talmud, God opens three books on the first day of the year: one for the thoroughly wicked, another for the thoroughly pious, and the third for everyone else. The fate of the thoroughly wicked and the thoroughly pious is determined on the spot; the destiny of those in between is held over until Yom Kippur, when the fate of all is sealed.
Mr McDowell rejected Fine Gael's charge that he and Mr Ahern had agreed "a secret deal", commenting that he was "fascinated" by newspapers that had taken the party's line "down pat". Accountability to the public, he said, happens "in the central democratic institution of the State" - Dáil Éireann - and he was confident that Mr Ahern would meet that standard.
The lessons, however, of Yom Kippur for those involved in the current crisis go on. The liturgy, Unetanneh Tokef, read in synagogues yesterday, warned all that God would pass all "under his rod" on the day of judgment. Once the decree on the Day of Atonement is written, the destiny of all is sealed, though "penitence, prayer, and charity" could help to avert some from the path of disaster.
