Inside Politics: The first week of the Dáil summer recess was an opportunity for the political parties to set off on early manoeuvres before next year's election.
The Fianna Fáil parliamentary party met for the first of four sessions designed to bring about a unity of purpose between Ministers and backbenchers, the Progressive Democrats licked their wounds after recent traumas, while Fine Gael and Labour got stuck into substantive negotiations on a joint election platform.
There were mixed views in Fianna Fáil about the value of the four-hour parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday to discuss the economy.
For a start, the meeting's format was a far cry from the initial proposal by a group of backbench TDs to set up a committee that would make Ministers more accountable, while providing a forum where the concerns of TDs would be taken seriously.
What happened was that the party top brass took control of the "revolt" and devised the format for a series of party meetings that left Ministers in control of proceedings.
Backbench TDs and Senators were certainly given the opportunity to put forward their views and complaints, but in a structured environment that posed no real threat to the top table.
In any case, it seems some backbenchers didn't exactly cover themselves in glory at the meeting. Many of the speeches were far too long and the concentration was on local issues rather than on the more fundamental policy choices facing the Government.
"We spent an awful lot of time discussing the hoary old question of television masts. If that is the best we can do, then the meetings won't be much use to anybody," said one TD afterwards.
Others were more positive, pointing to contributions on the need to improve conditions for small business and keep Ireland a low-tax economy. But the consensus was that the meeting was too long and people were bored well before the end.
The Taoiseach stayed for most of it, absorbing not only what the backbenchers were saying, but how his Ministers were responding.
If they want Ministers to take them seriously and have their views incorporated in the election manifesto, TDs and Senators will have to be more focused when it comes to the next two meetings this week on social policy and quality-of-life issues. They will also have to discipline themselves and stop indulging in long speeches that simply bore their colleagues.
If Fianna Fáil Ministers were making an effort to listen to their backbenchers during the week, the PDs made an effort to listen to each other. Through informal encounters, rather than a structured meeting, Ministers, TDs and Senators tried to put last month's upheavals behind them and present a united front to the world.
There was certainly some improvement in the atmosphere within the party and the PDs in Leinster House no longer appeared to be on tenterhooks, as they had done for the last few days of the Dáil session. Nonetheless, the leadership issue has not gone away, and while it seems to be off the agenda until after the election, it remains just below the surface and is bound to have an impact on the conduct of the campaign.
The PDs are not the only party with internal problems right now. There have been mutterings in Labour over the candidate-selection policy and particularly the decision to impose running-mates on Aidan Culhane in Dublin South and Eamon Gilmore in Dún Laoghaire.
Cllr Culhane has voiced his objection to having another councillor, Alex White, imposed on the ticket, and while Mr Gilmore has not objected to having a running-mate, his constituency organisation is up in arms at the arrival of Dublin city councillor Oisín Quinn from outside the constituency.
There is also residual anxiety in the party over coalition strategy. Pat Rabbitte has a clear mandate from his party to offer the electorate an alternative coalition with Fine Gael, but there is a continuing doubt about what will happen if the two main Opposition parties don't have the numbers to form a government.
Some in Labour hanker after a coalition with Fianna Fáil in that event, despite Mr Rabbitte's continuing assurances that he will not put Bertie Ahern and his party back in office under any circumstances.
The Labour leader has strengthened his position in the party by bringing his predecessor, Ruairí Quinn, back to the front bench and by promoting Brendan Howlin to the position of spokesman on justice.
In the past both men were open to the Fianna Fáil option, in the event of a hung Dáil, but they accepted the leader's strategy after it was endorsed by the party conference, and their appointment as key members of the party's election team is an important signal of unity.
The involvement of Mr Quinn and Mr Howlin also gives Labour more weight in political debate as the election approaches. As well as being spokesman on enterprise and employment, Mr Quinn has been appointed a member of the party's negotiating team charged with devising a joint policy platform with Fine Gael.
Mr Quinn and party finance spokeswoman Joan Burton met Richard Bruton and Phil Hogan of Fine Gael on Thursday for a serious session on economic policy.
The two parties are also planning negotiations on a joint strategy on crime and health over the summer.
The notion, conveyed by sections of the media, that politicians take three months' holidays in the summer was never true, but this year it has even less validity than normal.
All those running in the next election will spend most of the summer engaged in a battle for survival in their constituencies, while those with ambitions for office will also be plotting and planning how to win the ultimate prize of power.