It was trench warfare on the second day of the Flood debate. With no question-and-answer sessions, the Opposition was restricted to firing statements from a distance and hoping to hit something. The Government declined all invitations to come into the open and fight.
Not that the Taoiseach would accept this version of the hostilities. Indeed, when Mr Ahern illustrated his claims about openness with a list of the official inquiries established, it was hard not to be impressed by his passion for the truth.
There have been 10 inquiries, by the Taoiseach's count, and he recited them yesterday like a decade of the rosary: Flood, Moriarty, Lindsay, Costello, Dunne, Blaney, Murphy, Laffoy, Barr, and Morris. Pray for the sinners, amen, was Mr Ahern's message.
On the subject of Hail Marys, the Tánaiste wasn't there for his address. But the Taoiseach himself was as pious as a PD conference, and he was soon counting his beads again as he reeled off the various legislative measures passed by the Government to enforce "proper ethical standards in politics".
As for the question of how he had been misled by Ray Burke, that was one of the sorrowful mysteries, he implied. But the bottom line was there was a big difference between rumour and proven fact. And drawing a parallel with his decision to give Mr Burke the benefit of doubt, he reflected on his own experience as the subject of Denis "Starry" O'Brien's allegation of a £50,000 bribe in the Burlington car-park. The allegation had been found "baseless" by a court. But if people had believed the rumours at the time , "would I have been judged fit to continue in office?"
That was a rhetorical question - the only kind allowed during the debate. When Labour's Liz McManus interrupted his speech to ask if she might pose an empirical one, Mr Ahern snapped "no". But by the time he finished, after yet another impressive Dáil defence of his actions, a crestfallen Opposition didn't seem to have anything new to ask.
During a brief skirmish, they accused him of "not asking the right questions" of Ray Burke. But before he sat down to the congratulations of his party, the Taoiseach muttered contemptuously about "the oul' Fine Gael tradition of diggin' up the dirt". Over in the Fine Gael trenches, they were leaning on their spades, wondering why, every time they dig a hole, they always seem to end up in it.
Dáil report: page 8;
Editorial comment: page 17
