Dáil Sketch: Bertie Ahern stared downwards, making notes on a pad as the Opposition scented blood yesterday.
He made little eye contact with his putative political executioners, Enda Kenny and Éamon Gilmore, as they challenged him on the conflict of evidence between himself and Paraic O'Connor at the Mahon tribunal.
However, as the exchanges intensified, the Taoiseach made firm eye contact with Gilmore, who was repeatedly challenging him on when he would return before the tribunal.
The Taoiseach insisted that he had already mentioned his two scheduled appearances in December, and that any other times would be a matter for the tribunal. Addresing the Labour benches, he asked Gilmore: "Are you deaf as well as stupid?" The Taoiseach insisted that the money received from O'Connor was a loan to be repaid, and that he had thanked him at the time.
Kenny and Gilmore raised questions about his political credibility, but the Taoiseach replied that he was able to get on with his job.
He spoke with a palpable sense of grievance. Journalists were not immune from criticism, sometimes delivered in Bertie-speak.
"I do my best to show a civil attitude to the press when they turn up. When they turn up in sometimes large numbers and start pushing each other, that is difficult to do." He said he was disappointed when journalists asked him questions and the replies were not published. "But, anyway, that is life as well."
The Taoiseach claimed that Kenny's growing annoyance was because he had not heard the kind of answers he wanted to hear. And then the Taoiseach lapsed into incoherence. "When I do answer, don't say don't . . . you have no answer." Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern suggested to the Labour leader that he look up the tribunal's website to see on what dates the Taoiseach would be returning to the tribunal.
Historical references took over as insults were traded. Gilmore snapped: "You look it up at the top of whatever tree you climbed." This was a reference to Dermot Ahern's investigation of former minister Ray Burke's finances and the Taoiseach's comment at the time that he had been up every tree in north Dublin to try and find out what was going on.
Dermot Ahern replied: "You go back to making money." This was a reference to allegations made against Gilmore's former party, the Workers' Party, many years ago.
"We're hurting," said Gilmore in a voice laced with sarcasm.
The Labour leader sought an assurance that Ahern was not "a lame duck Taoiseach, leading a government of deadbeats". The Taoiseach suggested a scenario where Gilmore would be before the tribunal. "If you were up there explaining some of your past. . ."
Kenny later referred to practical matters when he asked if deputies could use laptops during today's Budget speech. It will be a long way from the traditional battered ministerial briefcase containing a written copy of the speech.
