It was an inauspicious start to the new parliamentary year. In a week when the Government could reasonably have expected to bask in the reflected glory of Ireland winning a seat on the Security Council of the UN, Liam Lawlor, like the ghost of Banquo, came back to haunt Fianna Fail.
A member of the Dail refuses to appear before a tribunal established by the Dail. If there has been a mood abroad that some people conduct themselves as if they are above the law, then Lawlor's contemptuous action seemed to crystallise that mood. In the same way, cronyism has long been associated with Irish political culture but it took the appointment of Hugh O'Flaherty to galvanise public reaction.
There seems to be no way that Bertie Ahern and New Fianna Fail can get away from Old Fianna Fail and the tribunals. Lawlor ostentatiously entered the Chamber and took his seat on the Fianna Fail benches. Bertie lamely told Ruairi Quinn that Deputy Lawlor was no longer subject to Fianna Fail direction. Lawlor glowered down at him from the Taoiseach's own party's benches.
He may have resigned the whip, but is that more than an empty formula? Presumably still a member of Fianna Fail, Lawlor will not be making life easier for his party.
It is difficult to know what the Minister from Newfoundland made of it all from the distinguished visitors' gallery. When on day three Bertie Ahern dredged up the Locke's Distillery Inquiry, the parallel, such as it is, was lost on many newer colleagues not to mention distinguished visitors.
When all the rhetoric about disrespect for Parliament and contempt for the tribunal has abated, colleagues are bemused as to what Lawlor thinks he's doing. Nobody is surprised that he has decided to play hardball. There was a rumour that he intended to play golf instead of attending the tribunal.
The tribunal was further diminished by the apparently calculated decision not to have lawyers present to explain Lawlor's reasons for non-attendance. Many Fianna Fail TDs would lose no sleep over the tribunal being derailed. But they would have expected that Lawlor's legal team would observe the courtesy of appearing before the tribunal to state his case.
The conclusion is either that Lawlor thinks he can get a result in the courts that will banjax the tribunal or else he's running out of road. Either way, it's a political miasma for Bertie and political manna from heaven for the Opposition.
John Bruton and Ruairi Quinn made the most of it in their different ways. Fine Gael seemed prepared to risk a Dail debate without a motion while Labour's preferred option was for a motion without a debate. Whether or not there was co-ordination between the Opposition parties, the strategy left Fianna Fail on the back foot. Ahern did well to extricate his Government from a fragile situation by persuading the Opposition parties to settle for a joint statement repudiating Lawlor's conduct, as distinct from a motion. A more assertive and aggressive Ruairi Quinn seemed unhappy that Bruton sold the pass. The Labour strategy seemed designed to force Mary Harney and the PDs to vote for a motion requiring Lawlor to make himself amenable or resign his seat.
Ahern would have been obliged to nod the motion through while casting a nervous glance in Lawlor's direction or part company with Harney. If the motion had gone to the floor, the PDs could scarcely sit on their hands. It would have been a nasty dilemma for Bertie so early in the parliamentary year. He did well to avoid it even if he failed to keep Lawlor's name out of the leaders' statement. It is anybody's guess why he was reluctant to include Lawlor by name.
Bruton probably calculated that the joint statement was sufficient unto the day and that the Government would manage to block a motion being taken before next week. The joint statement had the merit of hanging Lawlor out to dry and leaving Bertie looking over his shoulder.
Ironically, Lawlor's earlier victory in the courts is now the very reason why he must be heard in public. The possibility of another win in the High Court cannot be entirely discounted.
One of the Fine Gael young bloods promoted to the frontbench in the recent reshuffle, Denis Naughton, had his first outing opposite Mary Harney and acquitted himself creditably. John Bruton's youth policy may be admirable, but the promotion of the likes of Naughton and Brian Hayes to senior portfolios - Industry and Northern Ireland respectively - caused many an eyebrow to arch.
Most observers would consider that both posts require experienced politicians, no matter how talented Naughton and Hayes might be. Some of Bruton's other changes are similarly difficult to understand unless they have to do with the internal political balance. Most pundits would regard Jim Higgins, for example, as having done a good job in Justice.
The combination of Higgins and Labour's Brendan Howlin in Dail set pieces was dreaded by John O'Donoghue. O'Donoghue knows his facile zero-tolerance past makes him vulnerable and he won't be sorry to see Higgins go.
Ruairi Quinn returned to the attack in Cork at the end of the week in a trenchant speech that both sides of Mount Street will pore over carefully. Bertie Ahern will be unhappy to see his "happy coalition" claims for Fianna Fail being dismissed as a flight of fancy.
Bertie's own relationship with Mary Harney "has been based", according to Quinn, "on a series of half-truths and evasions". Strong stuff, but Bertie's strategists will be assessing how much the tone was pitched for an audience in Cork known to be hostile to coalition with Fianna Fail. Meanwhile, Liam Lawlor will be hard pressed to fit in nine holes this weekend.