Dáil Sketch/Miriam Lord:Bertie's eyes lit up when he saw the pensioners from Pearse Street. He was over to them like a shot as soon as the singing stopped. "Howaya girls!" The Taoiseach loves pensioners.
He flirts with the women and talks sport with the men. They have a bit of a laugh. You can say what you like about Bertie Ahern, but he was always very good to his mammy.
It was too wet and cold for the Taoiseach to linger long when the Christmas lights were switched on outside Leinster House yesterday. But he made sure to pay his respects to the group of senior citizens from St Andrew's Resource Centre before he left.
The Budget increase in the old-age pension has put Government deputies in a great mood before the festive break. Bertie's backbenchers are delighted with the extra money for the OAPs.
Remember: a pension increase is not just for Christmas; it's for election time too.
But let's not be too cynical this Yuletide season. Let us follow the example set by our political leaders, who broke briefly from post-Budget hostilities to sing from the same hymnsheet at the switch-on ceremony. Earlier in the Dáil, a loved-up Taoiseach made eyes across the floor at the Greens, who fluttered their lashes at him in mock horror.
They're delighted with the attention. Brian Cowen made the first moves in Fianna Fáil's wooing of the Greens during Wednesday's Budget speech. They affected to be unimpressed, although privately, they know that no political party wants to go too far on the first date.
When the Ceann Comhairle tried to rule John Gormley out of order during yesterday's Order of Business, he confidently insisted the Taoiseach was longing to hear him speak. "He does want to hear what I've got to say." There's nothing worse than a coquettish Green, but Bertie managed to twinkle back a smile.
"Oh, there's a new alignment alright," chortled Labour's Pat Rabbitte.
Play you cards right, John, and you and your colleagues could be in power with Fianna Fáil for another 10 glorious years, if Bertie has his way. We are living in an astonishing period of national development that "generations of patriots hoped for and dreamed of, but which they sadly never lived to see", the Taoiseach told the House.
Now, post the Biffo Budget, things are set to get better and better. "By the time we reach the historically resonant date of 2016, the vision and aspirations of the founders of this State are well capable of realisation," quivered Bertie, who says he intends to retire when he's 60, but when you hear him talking like that. . .
Outside on Leinster Lawn, the Ceann Comhairle could have plugged the tree into Enda Kenny and electrified the lights. Instead, he flicked a switch, and Peter Daly, Oireachtas staff member and stalwart of the Fintan Lalor Pipe Band, launched into a medley of marching tunes on the bagpipes.
A choir drawn from Leinster House staff, under the baton of usher Tony Dunne, sang a selection of Christmas carols. The party leaders joined in gamely as a vicious wind howled and rain bucketed.
The brave pensioners, sitting under a pop-up gazebo, faced the terrifying prospect of being drowned, frozen to death or swept away. They survived, only for the party leaders to descend.
Still, the singing was beautiful - which is more than can be said for the tree, which appears to have been decorated with bunches of enormous mutant grapes. To get over their ordeal, the senior citizens were treated to a well-deserved lunch in the private dining room. Everyone else was treated for hypothermia.