Dáil Sketch/Michael O'Regan: Séamus Brennan has all the appearances of a man who believes in the old adage that you should get even rather than bitter.
His displeasure was palpable when he was moved in the Cabinet reshuffle from Transport to Social and Family Affairs. It was even suggested, at the time, that Mr Brennan was a little too right-of-centre for the Taoiseach. And that was before Bertie Ahern outed himself as a socialist.
Mr Brennan boasted of his own socialist credentials in advance of the Budget, telling his fellow TDs that he was battling hard with Finance Minister, Brian Cowen, to have the solemn promises made to Father Seán Healy in the Inchydoney confessional met in the social welfare area.
When Mr Brennan introduced the Social Welfare Bill yesterday, he exuded the confidence of a man who had more than delivered on the penance set out for the party by Father Healy in the west Cork sunshine.
The €874 million package represented an increase of €244 million, or almost 40 per cent, on last year's package of €630 million, he said. This was an indication of the Government's commitment to protecting and improving the living standards of social welfare recipients.
But what of the 2004 "dirty dozen" cutbacks, which Fianna Fáil confessed to Father Healy with such a post-election sense of guilt in Inchydoney?
"Following detailed examination, I decided to ease nine of the measures at this time, while instructing that those remaining should be subjected to a continuing active review," said Mr Brennan, with the air of a man who had battled hard for the marginalised and won the day with the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach.
There are references everywhere to socialism in Leinster House these days.
Raising the case of the post office workers, who later marched through Dublin to Leinster House, Joe Higgins, of the Socialist Party, began: "Independent deputies and socialist deputies." Mr Higgins was so unimpressed by the Tanáiste's replies, that he raised the matter of the Christmas tree which remained in the dark at the official lighting-up ceremony on Tuesday.
"This is as helpful as the Tánaiste was yesterday, fumbling around the Christmas tree that refused to light," he declared.
"We could have done with a handyman like the deputy," commented Ms Harney.
Mr Cowen had other ideas. Addressing Mr Higgins, he said: "We could have put you on top of it." But Mr Higgins, a frequently lonely voice on the opposition benches, is no Santa.
Santa Claus and his socialist reindeers are Fianna Fáil, who found their post-election soul in the quiet of the Inchydoney confessional with Father Healy.