From budget applause to insurrection: a week is a long time in politics

ON Tuesday, October 14, from the Temple of Wisdom, Merrion Square, Dublin, the Minister for Finance informed the nation of draconian measures which Fianna Fáil, in complicity with the Greens, intended to foist on pensioners, the sick and infirm.

This pronouncement was greeted with standing applause.

The following day, deputies, realising the folly of their actions, tried to inform Tánaiste Mary Coughlan of the panic and backlash unfolding. In a vain attempt to quell insurrection she threatened to recall the absent Taoiseach to bark them back into submission.