Paul Hosford: Dáil resumes with more weariness than fireworks

Michelle Raftery from Ashbourne during a protest by friends and members of FUSS (Families Unite for Services and Support) over the mistreatment of the disabled and caring community in Ireland

Leinster House can be a very quiet place in the month of August.

Those members of the media who don't take holidays and the staff for whom this is a year-round office can become accustomed to the quiet rhythms afforded by the mass exodus of TDs and senators to their constituencies in the summer, as the plinth clears and the queues in the canteen shorten.