Just as Mr Justice Smyth, in sending Mr Liam Lawlor to prison, had emphasised that nobody was above the law, An Bord Pleanala seems to be sending out a message about its own independence by refusing permission to the head of State.
It is almost inconceivable that the Queen of England would suffer a similar slap in the face from the planning authorities there. Yet the President, Mrs McAleese, has in effect been told to go back to the drawing board after her plans for a home in Co Roscommon were turned down.
The McAleeses were planning a relatively substantial two-storey house of some 204 square metres (2,200 sq ft), with outbuildings, car parking, a boat mooring jetty and a small sewage treatment plant, on a lakeside site overlooking Lough Eidin, on the Shannon system.
The planning application had been submitted to the county council by Dr Martin McAleese, who gave his address as Aras an Uachtarain.
A spokeswoman for the President said it was their intention to use it as a family home after her term of office ended in 2004.
Because of its location in Co Roscommon, within the Upper Shannon Rural Renewal Area (which also includes parts of Sligo and Cavan as well as all of Longford and Letrim), the McAleeses would have been able to avail of tax incentives to write off half the cost of their house.
To have their hopes dashed by a decision describing the proposed development as "detrimental to visual and environmental amenity", "prejudicial to public health" and "contrary to the proper planning and development of the area" must have come as a shock.
It should be noted, however, that An Bord Pleanala has a fairly strong track record of refusing permission for individual houses obtrusively located in designated high amenity areas - and, on this basis, it could not be argued that the President was singled out.
An Taisce, whose appeal in this case was upheld, has also been scoring some notable successes over the past 12 months in objecting to what it regards as undesirable developments throughout the State - to the intense irritation of those involved and their political supporters.
Initially, the McAleese's scheme ran into criticism on design grounds because it had been drawn up by a firm of building surveyors in Carrick-on-Shannon, Conor Gray and Associates, rather than a professionally-qualified architect. But the design featured nowhere in the board's decision.
Friends of the Irish Environment, who also appealed against the President's plans, suffered the indignity of having its appeal dismissed because it was based on an inspection of the wrong site. But FIE took some comfort from An Taisce's success in pressing home its objections.
Much of the meat behind the appeals board's reasons for refusing permission will be contained in the planning inspector's report, due to be released in three days, and this file is expected to be closely studied by the President's planning consultant, Mr Bernard McHugh.
The board's ruling lays down a cautionary marker for others with plans for individual houses in environmentally sensitive locations.
It may also have some influence in making certain local authorities with far too liberal policies in this area to think twice about their decisions.