Frank Flannery: Will he now submit himself to a public probing by the PAC?

In a deftly effective plunge of the political blade, veteran Labour Minister Ruairi Quinn avoided going for the kill, but left Fine Gael’s chief strategist Frank Flannery badly wounded and haemorrhaging credibility.

As controversy engulfed the now former Rehab director over reports he was paid by the charity to lobby ministers while occupying an influential backroom role in the Government, Mr Quinn’s remarks highlighted Mr Flannery’s perch at the very heart of power.

While declining to go as far as his Labour colleague Kathleen Lynch and declare Mr Flannery’s position “untenable”, the education minister offered an intriguing insight into how the ex-FG director of organisation does business.