Woman of substance: Labour takes comfort in its leading light

THE Labour TD explained how he wouldn’t like to owe Joan Burton money, because he’d feel obliged to pay it back within 24 hours. 

It was a curious thing to say until I realised he was highlighting just how often he meets his party leader around Leinster House; such is the frequency, he’d be embarrassed into paying her back pretty quickly.

In other words the Tánaiste keeps a very high profile. TDs and senators see her in the self service restaurant, where she might well ask them to join her; they can find her in the members’ restaurant having a coffee or a read of the day’s newspaper following leaders’ questions in the Dáil chamber; they bump into her on the corridors.