TDs yesterday learnt the precise meaning of the word 'obsession', courtesy of the Socialist TD, Mr Joe Higgins, writes Marie O'Halloran.
The Dublin West deputy told the Dáil he had taken the trouble to look up the dictionary and believed this word best explained the Minister for Transport's commitment to the break-up of Aer Rianta.
"'Obsession' means a compulsive, often unreasonable, idea or emotion," he said, adding that it was driven in this case by a right-wing ideology.
Indeed, Mr Higgins might have considered looking up the word 'ideology' because it was bandied about so much in debate - a debate that started with a rather confessional tone.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, had called for emergency legislation to close a legal loophole dealing with radar speedguns. He was concerned that 60,000 convictions for speeding would be overturned because of a District Court ruling that a radar speedgun offence was invalid without printouts.
Speaking from a driver's point of view, Mr Kenny said the motorist would ask whether he was likely to be caught if he broke the speed limit. The Fine Gael leader seemed to think the Taoiseach might not understand the driver's point of view since, as he pointed out, "the Taoiseach doesn't have to drive any more".
Mr Kenny certainly understood as he himself had "paid a fine or two in the past, having been caught by the speed gun".
But the confessional mood turned to ideological ire when Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, launched a broadside on the now delayed legislation to set up Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports as independent authorities.
Hitting out at the proposal as daft and unviable, Mr Rabbitte said it was being pushed for "blatantly ideological" reasons. Not so, said the Taoiseach. "The fact that somebody can be going to an airport to fly cheaply and come back safely is not ideological."
Which is where Deputy Higgins came in. The TD, also a candidate for the European elections, took a sideswipe at his ideological opponents and called for a debate on Aer Rianta with Fianna Fáil candidates including the Lord Mayor, who "seems to have wrapped his chain of office around his vocal cords".
Even Mr Ahern laughed when Mr Higgins said the Lord Mayor had made "strangled mutterings which would make the Taoiseach's answer seem like pristine clarity".
Mr Ahern replied that he wished Deputy Higgins well in his quest for election.
"I might even give him a transfer down the line to help him on his way," Mr Ahern added tantalisingly. Now there's a ballot paper worth viewing.