Dáil Sketch:Management of public money carried a health warning again yesterday, as Mary Harney was confronted with the controversy relating to the €56.4 million error uncovered in HSE accounts for last year, writes Michael O'Regan
It marked a return to reality for the Government after its six-week break from the House which ended on Wednesday.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern might have been festooned with flowers in India last week, but the Opposition had nothing but brickbats to offer yesterday as it smelled political blood.
Mr Ahern must have been relieved to be in Farmleigh meeting Tony Blair, while Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, who revealed the financial shortfall to the Dáil on Wednesday, was nowhere to be seen.
Ms Harney, flanked by a number of Ministers, took the Opposition flak when she presided over an Order of Business that included references to the president-elect of Chile and RTÉ's Charlie Bird.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was scathing.
"The leopard has not changed its spots and what happened yesterday is typical of this Government," he declared.
"Whether that relates to leaking tunnels, rails coming apart, or money going astray, it is small change in the Government's eyes."
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte claimed that the error would not have been made by a first-year accountancy student.
Party colleague, Joan Burton, a qualified accountant, speculated that it might require "Inspector Clouseau or Hercule Poirot" to discover what happened to the money.
Ms Harney appeared relieved when asked by Green Party leader Trevor Sargent if she had congratulated her colleague, the president-elect of Chile, who was the first woman president in South America. Ms Harney described her as a formidable woman who had become minister for defence after her stint in the department of health.
Our Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea can relax, given that Ms Harney does not have similar career ambitions, although it is a relative haven compared to her own portfolio, once memorably described by a predecessor, Mr Cowen, as "Angola".
Labour's Joe Costello asked about a letter to the Tánaiste from the chief consultant at the Mater hospital looking for part of the land occupied by Mountjoy Prison in Dublin.
"As a matter of interest, who is the chief consultant at the Mater hospital?," queried Ms Harney. "I did not know that such a person existed."
Mr Costello said he understood it was Dr Timothy Lynch.
"It is news to me that there is such a person as chief consultant," said Ms Harney. "I know Charlie Bird is the chief news reporter, but I have not yet heard the title chief consultant."
Unusually, there was a strong turnout of Fianna Fáil backbenchers.
Well, there is a junior ministerial job to be filled, with rumours of a second one.
Those reported to be in the running are hoping that Mr Ahern will put them out of their misery before long.