Ringside seats to the political circus back in town

IT felt a bit like the end of the world, but in reality it was just the re-starting of the circus.

They descended on the opening of the Dáil in their thousands, everyone from the religious right to the ultra left – and a human Chinese dragon in between.

And there amidst the deafening noise, sex toys. Well, one anyway, which was being brandished in the manner of a microphone under the noses of strangely unsuspecting deputies.