Dáil Sketch: Minister of State Noel Treacy goes on the radio, huffing and puffing and pretending he knows more about the workings of the Mahon tribunal than he actually does.
Secure in his belief that his bumptious bluster will go unchallenged, the deputy for Galway East informs the nation "it is a well-known fact that a certain individual in the tribunal is constantly leaking information to the media for political purposes".
Complete and utter guff, of course, but gravely relayed to the public as gospel by a shameless Minister of State for European Affairs. The tribunal calls his bluff and summons him to the witness box to stand up his claim.
Thoroughly found out, a deflated Noel has to admit he was talking rubbish.
Interestingly enough, Michael McDowell, the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, has been dropping heavy hints recently about sensational developments coming down the tracks from the Moriarty tribunal. He started doing this about the same time as Bertiegate broke, when, for a short while, it looked like he was about to become the shortest serving Tánaiste in the history of the State.
In Michael's fevered mind, Bertiegate is much ado about nothing. He feels some perspective needs to be applied to the debate.
To this end, he has been predicting to all and sundry that the controversy over Bertie accepting a few bob from friends will pale into insignificance once Mr Justice Moriarty's long awaited report hits the fan.
You want sleaze? You want corruption? You want political embarrassment? Wait for the Moriarty report, tantalises Mr McDowell.
Apparently, it will rock the foundations of the Fine Gael party. Some people are going to be in very big trouble. Oh, yes. The report is out sometime in spring, if Michael has his facts right. Just in time to stun the Opposition in advance of the general election.
His gleeful nursing of allegedly secret information has become a source of great irritation to the Opposition and growing frustration to journalists.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has tried unsuccessfully on numerous occasions in the House to raise the subject of the Minister's predictions. He tried again yesterday, when the Tánaiste was taking the Order of Business.
"Have you been contacted by the Moriarty tribunal?" he asked him, referring to comments he has made outside the House about the inquiry, its imminent reports, and who in Leinster House would be embarrassed as a result.
The Ceann Comhairle rushed to rule Deputy Kenny out of order, although the ever combative McDowell looked more than willing to step up with a reply. Which he did, eventually. "I just want to assure the deputy that the Moriarty tribunal has never contacted me, and I would just say that the focus of its inquiries at this stage seem to be nearer to Deputy Kenny than to me." Fine Gael's Billy Timmins was outraged by this cocky reply. "The Tánaiste has clearly stated that he has not been contacted by the Moriarty tribunal, yet he states that the focus of the inquiry is closer to Deputy Kenny. Could he elaborate on that? "
"Read the newspapers," smirked the Tánaiste. A strange response, as his oft-stated predictions of dire consequences for Fine Gael in the Moriarty report don't appear to have made the papers yet. Perhaps the Minister for Justice is ahead of himself and is yet to approve the official leak.
(Noel Treacy must be wondering how senior counsel and former attorney general McDowell can get away with making knowing statements about the report of a tribunal which has yet to report, while he was forced to 'fess up in public for one early morning utterance.) Could the difference be that the Tánaiste might be intimating an eventual truth? If so, who tipped him the wink?
