Fine Gael and Labour have put down a marker, writes Stephen Collins, Political Editor.
The new Dáil session began in lively fashion yesterday with normal business being suspended to deal with the expected motion of confidence in the Taoiseach. While the outcome was predictable from the outset it marked a new phase in the political career of Bertie Ahern, with the issues raised in the debate likely to dog him through his final term of office.
It was an unusual move by the Opposition to go straight for the jugular on day one of the first substantive Dáil session after a general election. There was even some difference of opinion between Fine Gael and Labour over whether to push the issue yesterday or wait for a few days to see if further pressure would build on the Government.
Labour argued for leaving the issue for a day or two to see what Ahern would say in response to Dáil questions. The argument was that the media would ratchet up the political temperature over the weekend and create the atmosphere for a more volatile debate next week.
Fine Gael felt that after all the statements in recent days about the Taoiseach's tribunal evidence they had to strike as soon as the Dáil met.
The bottom line for both parties was that they had nothing to lose by pushing the issue as hard as they could in the early days of the new Dáil.
While the debate may not have an enormous impact on public opinion it served to put every party's position on the record in the early days of the 30th Dáil. In time that could prove to be the main significance of the event, particularly if further information on the saga of the Taoiseach's personal finances emerges. Many TDs on the Opposition benches regret the failure of nerve that caused them to back away from a motion of no confidence exactly a year ago, when the story of Ahern's unorthodox personal finances first broke in The Irish Times.
At that stage they were cowed by the Taoiseach's popularity into backing away from a confidence motion. This time around, even though they knew such a motion was inevitably going to end with a Government victory, they felt the only option was to proceed with it.
While there was never any prospect of yesterday's motion bringing the Taoiseach down or prising the newly-installed Coalition apart, it did force the Greens and Progressive Democrats to nail their colours to the mast and back Ahern. It also put Ahern's likely successors in the position of backing him to the hilt against Opposition attacks.
Green Party leader John Gormley stuck by the position adopted back in June when the party decided to go into Government with Fianna Fáil, saying that the Mahon tribunal should be left to complete its work.
He also noted that Ahern has supported the Green Party on climate change and this is clearly an important factor in binding him to the Taoiseach for the foreseeable future.
Ahern, himself, put up a spirited and detailed defence of his conduct at the Mahon tribunal. He went through the evidence he had given about his foreign currency transactions and denied that contractions had appeared in it.
He also strongly rejected the notion that he had not fully co-operated with the tribunal and repeated that he had done nothing wrong. The Taoiseach also had a strong go at Fine Gael. "They spin and they leak to the newspapers - and then deny their involvement in this. For Fine Gael integrity is a tactic not a principle," he said.
Enda Kenny responded by saying there were three basic issues involved. The first was that it was simply wrong for a senior public figure to accept substantial sums of money from business people for his own private use as the Taoiseach had done. He also queried the extent to which Mr Ahern had co-operated with the tribunal and said he simply did not believe the account he had given about the various money transactions. Mr Kenny quoted from the speech made by Green Party Junior Minister Trevor Sargent a year ago when he said: "What the Taoiseach did in taking money from businesses and businessmen was and is totally improper. It was unethical and wrong."
In his first major speech to the Dáil as Labour leader, Eamon Gilmore, maintained it was his duty to call Ahern to account as the credibility of the Taoiseach was a matter of public importance.
"Where now are the fulminations of the Green Party deputies about corruption in Fianna Fáil that we heard with such regularity in the last Dáil. Deputies Sargent and Gormley were particularly prone to exercising themselves on this issue.
"It cannot but be a source of deep regret to those of us who support progressive politics and standards in public life that the Greens should have sold out so comprehensively and so quickly."
Gilmore has made a lot of the running since the Mahon tribunal finished its initial phase of public evidence with the Taoiseach on Monday night. He managed to set the tone for the Dáil debate by insisting beforehand that he acknowledged not only the Taoiseach's popularity but also the achievements he had made on the country's behalf.
Nonetheless, he argued that the issues raised by the tribunal should not be shirked by anybody in the Dáil.
"Deputies cannot hide behind the ideal that these are the private affairs of a private man, The credibility of the Taoiseach is a matter of public importance."
When the vote was taken at the end of the debate, the Government won by 81 votes to 76. The much reduced margin of victory compared to the election of the Taoiseach back in June was explained by the fact that a number of his Ministers were away on official business and unable to get back in time.
It was noticeable, though, that while Ahern's speech was greeted with ritual applause from his own backbenchers that of his anointed successor, Brian Cowen, drew a really enthusiastic response.
It seems that while his TDs will continue to loyally back Ahern, they are already thinking ahead to the days after his departure.