Pat Rabbitte's colleagues lined up to recount plenty of anecdotal tales about foreign labourers "displacing" their Irish equivalents although there was little by way of hard fact. Despite that, the twopoint boost in the party's ratings in the latest opinion poll is seen by some in Labour as confirmation that Rabbitte's hardline stance on immigration will pay dividends. We're told to expect more populist politics from the party of Connolly in the coming weeks as Rabbitte seeks to break into the 'Bertie and Enda' game.

Did someone mention the idea of a rotating Taoiseach?