He entered the Dail chamber alone. He sat alone. He stood alone. But he had always threatened he would not fall alone. As one party leader after another proffered the sword upon which they unanimously agreed he should fall, one wondered ... would a scorned and isolated Liam Lawlor use Dáil privilege to name names?
The Taoiseach rose first and said the events surrounding Lawlor had brought the House into disrepute. "Political life is cheapened by the events," he said.
Michael Noonan agreed with Taoiseach but found fault in Mr Ahern's pious tone. He said the Taoiseach was publicly condemning but privately accommodating transgressors within his own party. "You must be a seriously embarrassed Taoiseach," Mr Noonan suggested. That raised a shout from the Fianna Fáil benches. But would it be the only shout of the day?
Mr Noonan also took the time to say 'I told you so' to those who this week rubbished his contention that Lawlor should be present for the debate. And while that jibe was aimed primarily at Labour. The PDs got a piece of the former school teacher’s mind.
"If the Attorney General had taken more time in considering the approach to this debate here this morning, rather than focusing on his election ambitions, perhaps the Government would have got better advice, and this house this morning would not have been subject to the fiasco that we were subject to," he chastised.
Labour Party leader Ruairi Quinn found Lawlor’s behavior to be an affront the memory of former members of the house, an affront to democracy and an affront to the foundations of the State.
"This is both a good day and a bad day for this republic," said Mr Quinn, winding up for a Churchillian tilt at the deputy. He spoke of "the march to freedom of the nation" and showing the colonial powers that we could govern ourselves. He said as people privileged to be elected representatives TDs, must show "strength of character", "generosity of spirit" and "humanity".
And he concluded with a personal plea to Lawlor: "to respect the traditions of this State, to venerate the memory of people who came here before us, and to acquiesce without protest".
Earlier, the Tánaiste told the House the tribunals were marvelous. No-one disagreed. "Our public accountability is being enhanced by the Tribunals." she said.
But Ms Harney agreed with the Taoiseach that the Dáil is not a court and should not have the power to force the resignation of a deputy. Such a power could be open to abuse, she warned.
Abuse, power, ... TDs ... as if.
Only the people should have the right to remove a TD and that should be at the ballot box, the Tánaiste said; looking over the shoulder of the Taoiseach at his notes.
"Good idea," said Joe Higgins. A by-election should be called to fill the vacancy left by Liam Lawlor’s resignation, he advised. But Liam hadn’t resigned. He was sitting placidly amid a sea of empty seats, listening, occasionally scribbling a note, patiently waiting his turn.
When he finally rose, breaths were held. By the time he had finished, Ms Harney was staring into space. Mr Noonan had lost interest and Mr Quinn was picking something off his velvet jacket.
You see, the only names Liam mentioned were those of his legal advisors. The best lawyers money could buy: former attorney general John Rogers and Adrian Hardiman, now a Supreme Court judge. He didn’t say it, but he implied that if they thought there was reason to take issue with the Flood tribunal...
And he had strong words for the tribunal legal team. They had acted illegally, and that had been borne out in court, he said. They had also got their facts wrong, he claimed. "Sleeveens" he called them. But as for the man who sided with them, the man who jailed him on three separate occasions, Justice Smyth, Lawlor accepted his rulings and complimented him on his thoroughness.
He rounded on the media, once again and warned one newspaper that he sincerely hoped he would be found guilty of corruption. Otherwise he may be spending more money on the finest lawyers but for a different purpose.
He complained of how the media and the tribunal brought his family into the affair. He said he had given money to his sons through his credit card accounts. Should that, among many, many other things, be of interest to the Tribunal, he wondered?
Indeed, one of his sons now works in the United States with a well-known bank that is in the headlines at the moment, he said, in a by-the-way fashion. "I hope I won’t be blamed on that - there’s every possibility," he quipped. And everyone laughed.
And they could afford a laugh that contained no hint of nervousness. For by this stage it was apparent, Liam would not be huffing and puffing today. And would not be resigning either.
As the party leaders would have it, Lawlor failed to show the Dáil chamber to be a house of probity and dignity. But some may be secretly thankful he did not show it to be a house of cards.