Fianna Fail is hurting. Exposed by the Labour Party as the chief advocate of the retention of business funding for politics, it is under severe pressure with a general election coming down the line. As it contemplates reform, it has muddied the waters by an attack on Fine Gael.
Last week the complexion of the political funding issue changed irrevocably when Michael Noonan leapt into the arms of Ruairi Quinn. The imagery may be overdrawn, but the end result had Fine Gael cosying up to the Labour Party on a common, anti-corporate funding policy and abandoning the "laissez-faire" approach of John Bruton.
Fine Gael's sudden conversion to a new, squeaky-clean funding regime was Mr Noonan's big new idea as party leader. But it was presented as Fine Gael's own programme, with talk of drawing up a Private Member's Bill. There was no hint of the fact that a Labour Party Bill on the subject had already been put on hold by Noel Dempsey at Committee Stage. But that was to be expected. You don't blow another party's trumpet.
It didn't last. Ruairi Quinn was quick to draw attention to the attempted theft of Labour Party clothing. And he announced the opening of a fatwa against the Government, in ordering Dail business, unless Jackie Healy-Rae was allowed to facilitate a debate on the Labour Bill before the Easter recess.
It led to a rumpus in the Dail. But Bertie Ahern wasn't having any of it. The Labour Party would have to wait because the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, was going to bring the Government's own legislation into the Dail. He didn't say it, but the Bill is supposed to place a ceiling of £20,000 on corporate funding, rather than abolish it.
Still, with Fine Gael joining with Labour and the Green Party on the moral high ground, there was no knowing what might happen. Especially when Michael Noonan was playing the populist card and saying he would depend on the subscriptions of the small man to fight the greed and power of big business and Fianna Fail.
The Taoiseach was taking no guff from Fine Gael. But, given the damaging disclosures of the seedy links between politics and big business at a variety of tribunals, there was no knowing what ground might have to be abandoned. The spectacle of a Fianna Fail U-turn was not beyond the bounds of possibility.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fail was going to ensure that Fine Gael did not get too big for its boots under its new leader. John O'Donoghue was sent out to hack Mr Noonan down to size on Monday.
The Minister for Justice challenged Mr Noonan to identify the corporate cabal that had funded an opinion poll designed to undermine the leadership of Mr Bruton.
It was all about corporate money men; the buying of political influence and the manipulation of public opinion. The public had a right to know the names, the Minister for Justice thundered. And, unless Mr Noonan came clean, it would show that he wasn't really serious about corporate donations.
Jim Mitchell's declaration that it was he who had been consulted about the opinion poll didn't faze the Minister. Nor did Mr Noonan's denial of any involvement. What mattered was that the hare was running. The Fine Gael leadership was being publicly linked with big business.
By last night there was a slight change in tack as Fianna Fail targeted Jim Mitchell. Dermot Ahern was sent out to ask the same questions John O'Donoghue had posed. The shadowy group of business people had to be outed, the Minister for Social Welfare insisted, along with their motivation.
And he wondered if those were the people who had cleared Fine Gael's £1 million debt when it was last in government.
Money talks. Talks big. If the rules of the game were to be changed, Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats would not give up without a fight. After all, they had more to lose than the Opposition parties.
For some never-explained reason, parties in government act as an irresistible lure to corporate gentlemen with large amounts of loot who want to support the democratic system. It doesn't happen quite like that when parties are in opposition.
The controversy over political funding will run and run. The Government and Opposition parties will wrangle over Dail business and the pecking order of the various parties. The new Fine Gael leader has caused a disturbance in the force. A great deal of skirmishing will be required before Bertie Ahern, Michael Noonan and Ruairi Quinn generate a new equilibrium.