Dáil Sketch: It is said the difference between blarney and baloney is that blarney is the varnished truth while baloney is an unvarnished lie, writes Marie O'Halloran.
Adding a new word to the parliamentary lexicon, the Taoiseach yesterday accused the Irish Medical Organisation of "baloney" in the row over the EU working-time directive which will cut junior doctors' working hours to 58 a week.
The former president of Europe, who got 25 government leaders to agree the EU's first constitution and a new European Commission president, was speaking in unusually forthright language, to a far less receptive audience.
But the debate did not start out this way. As TDs limped through the second-last Dáil day before the summer recess, Mr Ahern initially said he did not want to get into a dispute with any section of the medical services. In his more naturally-emollient manner, he appealed to doctors to engage in dialogue with the Department of Health.
The Opposition initially sat quietly - or rather tiredly. However, by the time three Opposition leaders had finished verbally pummelling him, the Government, the health service and the Minister for Health, Bertie was feeling far from emollient.
The Opposition backbenchers had woken up, were throwing around a few smart remarks, interrupting the Taoiseach and getting heckled in turn from the Government benches.
In an unusual occurrence, all Leaders' Questions focused on a single issue - health. Fine Gael's Enda Kenny had counted the number of days Bertie had been in Government, and it was seven years of wealth and waste.
But the image that came to mind was of Enda scratching the days off the walls of the prison of opposition. He felt a bit sorry for Micheal Martin, who was being "strangled" by the Department of Finance.
But Labour leader Pat Rabbitte was asking "who's fooling who" when he said that the real Minister for Health was the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy.
Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin, Sinn Féin's leader in the Dáil, introduced a bit of drama when, rubbing his hands together as he spoke, he said the Minister for Health could not "Macbeth-like" wash his hands of responsibility.
But all were waiting to wash their hands of the Dáil, if not Dáil committees, for the summer.