Ahern keeps one step ahead in the on-the-runs controversy

Whatever misgivings they had about the peace process, it used to be a tradition in the Dáil that Opposition parties would hold their noses and wish the Taoiseach well.

Such is the fragrance rising from the "on-the-runs" issue, however, that the practice has lapsed. Far from holding its nose, the Opposition has been looking down it at Bertie Ahern and accusing him of low standards.

Fortunately, the Taoiseach is still at his most authoritative when talking about the North. The process itself may have lost value, but the proprietorial rights he established over it eight years ago remain unchallenged. So impassioned and articulate does he become on the subject that you suspect his other Dáil persona - the one that mumbles and can recite litanies of statistics that would tranquillise a guard dog - must be deliberate.

When Enda Kenny accused him yesterday of dragging Ireland "down the route of dubious constitutionality" with his proposed scheme of presidential pardons, the Taoiseach seemed more disappointed with the Fine Gael leader than hurt by the criticism.

Alluding to FG's previous attacks on his exposed flank over Jerry McCabe, he regretted its habit of supporting the Belfast Agreement while opposing "everything that comes out of it".

Although he stopped short of using the term, his damning implication was that Enda was again shopping for that attractively priced but shoddy product: cheap political gain. You're allowed pick up some of it down here, but shopping for it in the North is still considered unpatriotic.

So Pat Rabbitte was more circumspect when he broached the issue, contrasting the proposed OTR scheme with the 1993 tax amnesty. The latter required the guilty to make a declaration of their sins, he reminded the Taoiseach. The OTR amnesty promised penance without even the inconvenience of confession. Not quite addressing this point, Mr Ahern replied that "difficult as it is", the OTRs was an issue that had to be dealt with. If the Government hadn't faced such things, there would never have been "a hope in hell" of peace. He chose to deal with them, he said, "and I'll never apologise for it".

One could no more argue with that than with the Sermon on the Mount, and the Labour leader didn't try. It was a "good point", he agreed. "We must draw a line in the sand."

Not everybody was in listening mode when, in the wake of Sunday's fire tragedy at a Dublin halting site, Joe Higgins raised the issue of Traveller accommodation generally.

It wasn't the first time the Socialist Party TD has devoted his Leaders' Questions slot to a minority that doesn't promise him much electoral advantage. And despite the grim subject, he drew smiles by trying to commit the Taoiseach to future accommodation targets if, "God forbid", Mr Ahern won another term. But the fact that his question had to compete with three separate conversations on the FG front bench suggests a change of government may not make quite the difference to this problem that Joe hopes.