Eyes go skywards as Bertie speaks of 'fly-past' shooting

The escalation in gun crime would be worrying enough without Bertie Ahern giving criminals new ideas.

True, the existing vocabulary has been stretched by recent events, and "drive-by shooting" hardly describes a machinegun attack between two moving vehicles on the M50.

But to talk of a "fly-past" shooting, as the Taoiseach did yesterday, seemed premature, at least for now.

Apart from that, it was all about cars at Leaders' Questions.

While the issues for discussion ranged from the backlog of driver-test applications (Fine Gael) to the survival of mankind (Greens), our four-wheeled friends provided a common thread.

In apocalyptic mood, Trevor Sargent saw the Government's indifference to climate change in small things: "You haven't even converted your own cars to biofuel."

But every cloud has a silver lining. For Martin Cullen, there was some relief that at least the latest outrage on the M50 had nothing to do with him. And even the Minister for Justice got off lightly when Pat Rabbitte raised Sunday's shooting.

The Labour leader's main obsession these days is former justice minister John "Zero Tolerance" O'Donoghue.

Mr O'Donoghue's performance as opposition spokesman during the rainbow years obviously left a deep impression on Mr Rabbitte, because he never misses an opportunity now to quote excerpts.

He can go from 60 to zero just like that, and the M50 incident was his latest chance.

This time he chose a 1995 speech in which Mr O'Donoghue spoke of people cowering in their homes. "Our streets have been taken from us by criminals," he had said. "They rule by threats, intimidation and force." It wasn't true then, Mr Rabbitte said, adding: "Sadly . . . it's true now."

The Minister for Transport did not escape completely, thanks to Enda Kenny's attack on the driving test "scandal". However, he heard himself praised by the Taoiseach for the "exceptional lengths" he had gone to in trying to resolve the problem.

Elsewhere, the exceptional lengths required of Irish soldiers - 5ft 4in - featured in questions to the Minister for Defence. Mr O'Dea confirmed that he was reviewing the minimum height requirement, greater for the Irish Defence Forces than for many more active armies. The Americans settled for 4ft 11in, he said.

Folding his arm behind his back, like a version of Napoleon, the diminutive Minister explained that the height requirement was health-related. Weapons and army packs placed strain on the "musculo-skeletal" system.

"People of shorter stature are more likely to incur back or lower-limb injuries."

Mr O'Dea has had his own problems from carrying weapons, of course. But FG defence spokesman Billy Timmins sought to increase the strain on the Minister's musculo-skeletal system by suggesting that he assume responsibility for humanitarian relief, now held by the Department of Health.

"I appreciate Deputy Timmins's confidence in me," began Mr O'Dea. Whereupon Mr Timmins assured him that he would not be Minister long enough to benefit from the extended portfolio. "We'll be in by the time it comes through," he said.