It was rectified when Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan moved seats to sit next to Coughlan, who was taking the Order of Business.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was speaking in metaphorical terms when he accused the Government of being all over the place on the public service pay deal.

Kenny was clearly fearful that the Tánaiste might lapse into the arcane Civil Service-like speak, which was used by Brian Cowen until he went native again in the Dáil on Wednesday. "Without using jargon, will the Tánaiste say if the national pay deal is set in stone or is up for renegotiation?" Kenny asked.

Promising short answers to Opposition questions, Coughlan replied that the pay deal was not up for renegotiation, "but there is constant interaction between all members of the Government and the social partners, most particularly in the context of the current economic difficulties".

Kenny claimed that Coughlan's reply sent out conflicting messages.

"I have made my view known about a pay freeze in respect of the national pay deal," he declared. "Does the Government intend to pay the national pay deal or not?"

Coughlan repeated that the pay deal was not up for negotiations.

"However, I am delighted we are in Government because at least the social partners will be fully au fait with the fact that we respect their role," she added.

Inevitably, this went down like the proverbial lead balloon on the Fine Gael benches.

As the exchanges continued, Lenihan whispered some advice to Coughlan.

Chief Whip Pat Carey produced a document, passed it to Lenihan, who placed it front of Coughlan.

Proceedings took on a tetchy note when Kenny accused Coughlan of not answering the question.

"I did answer the question. The answer is 'no'," snapped Coughlan. "Perhaps the deputy does not understand these little words like 'yes' and 'no'."

In a reply, cloaked in sarcasm, Kenny suggested that if the Tánaiste "wants to impute ignorance to us, fair enough, she is following in the footsetps of her leader".

Coughlan soaked her reply in an equal level of sarcasm. "There is no legislation proposed on the national pay awards," she said.

Fine Gael's Bernard Durkan wondered about the progress of legislation to replace the Explosives Act 1875, arguing that it "should be nearly time" to introduce it.

He suggested that it include a provision to destroy the electronic voting machines, "which are currently stored at locations throughout the country and costing the taxpayer an amount of money".

What the Government really needs, however, is a landmine detector, given the series of uncontrolled explosions which has beset it in recent times.