Dáil Sketch: The dust has not yet settled on the reshuffle, and the Opposition is still struggling to get a clear shot at the reshaped Government. But the very concept of Willie O'Dea as Minister for Defence continues to provoke laughter from the Fine Gael benches, and you have to worry how the Army will react when he inspects his first guard of honour, writes Frank McNally.
On the plus side, the diminutive Limerick man was hailed as "Rommel" by the Blueshirts yesterday, only days after they christened him "Corporal O'Dea". At his current rate of promotion - corporal to field marshal in under a week - he will surely grow into the job.
The disturbing question of whether Conor Lenihan was "regular" was also raised. Although the new junior Minister was betraying no signs of discomfort, the issue arose in the context of Jim McDaid's delayed resignation, which may have left the Taoiseach a vacancy short at the time he announced his new line-up.
Pat Rabbitte worried that his constituency colleague's promotion had not been "regularised". Fortunately, the Taoiseach was able to assure him that Mr Lenihan was as regular as the inside of one of Noel Hanlon's €9,000 watches (even if he was wound up prematurely).
Séamus Brennan was absent during question time, as Mr Ahern defended the Government's decentralisation scheme. But the opposition seized on the Minister as a victim of social engineering. Here was a public servant, enjoying life in the Big Smoke of the Department of Transport - close to the centre of power and all major amenities - and suddenly forced to relocate to the dormitory village of Social and Family Affairs, from where power was a lengthy commute.
Trevor Sargent wondered how Mr Ahern would break the decentralisation news to a senior bureaucrat: "Would he ask if such a civil servant would be disappointed not to be working in Dublin in the future?"
Mr Rabbitte seized on the Taoiseach's suggestion that teleconferencing would play a big role post-decentralisation: "Some of his frontbench colleagues may not be happy being in the same room as him, but teleconferencing is going a bit too far."
This was going a bit far for the new Minister for Finance. One of the unnoticed effects of the reshuffle is that Brian Cowen has slipped off the diplomatic shackles of an international statesman. Yesterday he announced his re-entry into parliamentary atmosphere by inquiring of Mr Rabbitte where Michael D. Higgins was, and suggesting it would be a while before he and his leader sat in the same room again.
He then moved on to the Mayo football team, a line that was lost as Mayoman Rabbitte welcomed the real Cowen back: "I thought they'd finessed you a bit over at Iveagh House, but obviously not."