The station's latest application for a licence-fee increase has yet to come before the government, but the justice minister was not shy in pointing out that "a 42% taxpayer paying PRSI would need gross earnings of 596 every year just to pay the TV licence fees for his or her principal TV and for a holiday home in which he or she brings a portable TV".

The reference to the holiday home was very PD.

But the back-off message was clear as it co-existed in the speech with McDowell's declaration that "there are signs that a minority of journalists and programmemakers have decided they want to be political players".

McDowell also asked, "Is the private life of a TD any more or less significant than that of a major TV current affairs presenter?" The decisionmakers on Morning Ireland gave the minister his answer less than 12 hours later when they opted to scold FF's Billy Kelleher for getting two penalty points for a speeding offence. We await tomorrow morning's Morning Ireland interview with RTE staff who have recently accumulated penalty points.