Deal cements coalition legacy: Debt is dead, long live the debt

They resisted rising to their feet on the government benches as they broke into delirious applause not once but six times when the details of the long-awaited Anglo debt deal were presented to the Dáil.

The tensions that had grown more fraught as the weeks dragged on, and the burden of uncertainty that had weighed so heavily on the shoulders of Cabinet ministers, was lifted.

The €3.1bn promissory note payment that hung over them like a dark cloud, drifted away — averting a thunder storm for now, but storing sustained rainfall for some time in the distant future.