Dail Sketch: When is an insult not an insult? When it's a noun and not a verb. So it would seem, at least, in the row sparked by the Taoiseach's remarks that former Aer Lingus executives wanted to "steal" the company's assets and "shaft" its employees.
The Taoiseach was not in the Dáil as Tánaiste Mary Harney faced Enda Kenny's questions and Pat Rabbitte's outrage. But she deftly sidestepped the issue when asked if she agreed with Bertie.
She believed the former Aer Lingus chief executive was a bit of an asset himself. He had done a "fantastic job", she said. Pushed further, she said coyly of the Taoiseach's remarks: "It is not a perspective I share." But she suggested that Bertie "may have intended to use the word "strip" instead of "steal". That was just too much for the Labour leader, who went nearly as red as the party's symbol, the rose. That the Taoiseach might have meant "strip" the assets only compounded the insult, he thundered.
Of course, he was equally outraged that the Taoiseach had made the comments for "populist purposes and electoral gain". In other words, he had very successfully diverted attention from Mr Rabbitte's main charge, that the sale of Aer Lingus had been delayed and would not now take place until autumn at the earliest.
The Labour leader wanted Bertie to come into the House to atone for his "outrageously defamatory remarks", but even more he appeared upset that nobody else would have got away with making the remarks the Taoiseach had made.
And the Labour leader warned he would take up the issue with the Ceann Comhairle, reviving a long-running dispute between the two over interpretation of the House's procedures and what can be raised.
But when an insult is a noun rather than a verb, it may render it merely as a "perspective". Green Party leader Trevor Sargent raised this conundrum as he speculated on the often widely felt confusion about what the Taoiseach says and what he means. Mr Sargent suggested Fianna Fáil's Dublin North TD Jim Glennon implied the word "steal" was used as a noun, not a verb when he spoke on radio. And using it as a noun might mean the airline was "being sold for a pittance or going for a song". He asked if this reflected the Tánaiste's "perspective", as that was the view of Dublin North constituents who were Aer Lingus employees.
Socialist TD Joe Higgins did not care to discuss grammar. Instead, he asserted that the issue was the "breathtaking hypocrisy" of the Taoiseach. Bertie, "while pretending to point out the greed of previous corporate executives who wanted to get their hands on the airline, is holding the door ajar for the corporate thieves, the biggest thieves in the international stock exchanges, who cannot wait to get their hands on our national airline courtesy of the Taoiseach and Government".