DÁIL SKECTH:The Government's proposal was to adjourn until 2.30pm on Wednesday. Normally the House sits at 2.30pm on Tuesday, but the Oireachtas does not usually do Tuesdays following a bank holiday weekend, writes Michael O'Regan
Eamon Gilmore evoked the words of Patrick Pearse when he warned the bruised and battered TDs about the wrath of the electorate.
Beware/Beware of the thing that is coming/ Beware of the risen people/Who shall take what ye would not give.
Pearse, no doubt, did not have next year's European and local elections in mind when he penned those words. But the Government TDs got the Labour leader's drift.
Gilmore and Fine Gael's Richard Bruton opposed the adjournment until Wednesday.
"These are not normal times,'' said Gilmore. "Financial markets are still in a state of flux and people are still very concerned about what is happening with the economy.''
Bruton noted they had a timely reminder on Wednesday of the power derived from the people.The people expected their elected representatives to be knuckling down to issues of real concern and not missing when business was to be done.
Fine Gael's Charlie Flanagan suggested that the Government TDs would need some Hallowe'en masks when they returned to their constituencies later in the day.
Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin agreed, although he understood the thinking behind allowing an extra day in the constituency following a public holiday. "The matter has been agreed by the whips,'' said the Tánaiste. The Government won the day by 67 votes to 59.
Later Green Party Minister for the Environment John Gormley came under pressure from Labour's Ciarán Lynch on the hideously expensive electronic voting machines.
Gormley spoke of having to cope with "a legacy issue''.
He was clearly in no mood to carry the can for the folly of his Fianna Fáil ministerial colleagues.
He indicated it was unlikely the machines would be suitable for use in the European and local elections when the risen people have their say at the ballot box.
Some legacy!