Mr Shatter, not Big Brother, is watching

“It’s Day Nine of this saga,” Fianna Fáil’s Niall Collins helpfully announced in the manner of the Big Brother voiceover guy for the benefit of everyone who had lost track of our own tortuous tale of seeming surveillance.

As usual, the Leinster Housemates were lounging around on their chairs seemingly spouting the first thing that came into their heads, when the GSOC bugging scandal pierced the bubble mentality of the Dáil.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter is once again up for eviction if the opposition make their charge stick that he mislead parliament, so all eyes were on him as he walked into the chamber, while Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was denouncing him in Leader’s Questions.