Rise in price of pork easier to stomach than tribunal piecemeal

FUNNY how the mere mention of corruption and the whiff of a brown paper envelope can make TDs scurry from every corner of Leinster House.

The chamber had been virtually empty for Order of Business, then the awkward business of the Moriarty Tribunal and the long shadow it still casts across Fianna Fáil forced deputies out of the woodwork with the speed of €500 notes appearing at a re-zoning decision.

Bertie Ahern needed the foot soldiers to vote down uppity opposition demands he should actually answer questions on the forensically in-depth assessment of a late Taoiseach’s self-service from the State and the present Taoiseach’s role as Blank Cheque Signer General to his former mentor.