WHEN John O'Donoghue was elected Ceann Comhairle a couple of weeks back, it prompted some wags to note that 'The Bull' was now in the pen - a reference to both his rather unflattering nickname and the restrictive role played by the chair of the D�il. But, after last week's bust-up between O'Donoghue and Enda Kenny, Michael Ring and Arthur Morgan, the joke was that, rather than a pen, the bull had finally found a china shop.

There was some discussion in the D�il corridors on Tuesday evening that, with the robust Cahirciveen man in the chair, previous spats between his predecessor Rory O'Hanlon and Pat Rabbitte would begin to look like a teddy bear's picnic.

Not that you sense O'Donoghue will be losing any sleep over that prospect. His obvious shyness may make him an unlikely politician to some but it has never deterred him from wading into the political cut and thrust.

Over the past 15 years, no Fianna F�il politician has been as hardhitting in attacks on rival politicians. Nothing personal, friends say, just business.

While many felt O'Donoghue seriously overreacted to last week's goading from the Fine Gael benches, his admirers in Fianna F�il say he was simply laying down a marker. "John obviously went in and said, 'I'm going to show them that I'm not taking any s**t.' He gave it socks and all hell broke loose, " one source observed.

They also dismiss suggestions that O'Donoghue is temperamentally unsuited to the job. "Every person brings his own style. He'll grow into the role, " said one ally. Another argued that the caricature of 'The Bull' is wholly unwarranted and does not do justice to a man who is very popular with his colleagues; witty, great company and extremely capable and intelligent. "It's more about his mannerisms than his character. He's actually not hot-headed at all. He is not the type to scream and shout."

While he has his detractors, even within Fianna F�il, the more positive view is that O'Donoghue's relatively young age - he is only 51 - and status within the party can bring a new dynamism to the role of Ceann Comhairle, which had previously been seen as something akin to a retirement role, albeit a prestigious and lucrative one.

But O'Donoghue wasn't - initially, at least - embracing such a positive view on the day Bertie Ahern made him an offer he couldn't refuse. To make matters worse, he had to grin and bear it as his constituency rival, Jackie Healy-Rae, rubbed salt in his wounds by promising to fill in in O'Donoghue's "absence".

The full context for O'Donoghue's response that he would never be too far away perhaps only became apparent a few days later when his younger brother and close confidant, Paul O'Donoghue - who is a member of Kerry County Council - announced his intention to seek the FF nomination as a candidate for the constituency in the next general election.

The O'Donoghue family is steeped in politics. His father Dan, a War of Independence and Civil War veteran who died when John was just eight, was a member of Kerry County Council and was succeeded in the council by his wife Mary. O'Donoghue's wife, Kate Ann Murphy, is the daughter of Michael Pat Murphy who was Labour Party TD for Cork South West for 30 years.

It took O'Donoghue, a solicitor, four attempts to get to the D�il but, having got there in 1987, he made quick progress, despite not being a natural TV performer. He was a shortlived junior minister in Charlie Haughey's last government before becoming one of many to lose out when Albert Reynolds took over. But it was as opposition spokesman on Justice, under Ahern, that O'Donoghue really made his name. He gave minister Nora Owen a torrid time in the D�il and made history by enacting three criminal-justice bills from the opposition benches - including the Proceeds of Crime Bill, which was instrumental in setting up the Criminal Assets Bureau. One of his closest advisors and friends at this time was top barrister Eamon Leahy, the late husband of education minister Mary Hanafin, to whom O'Donoghue is still very close. He is also friendly with Miche�l Martin, while another barrister, Conor Bowman, who is also an author, is credited with being involved in some of O'Donoghue's most memorable speeches.

O'Donoghue achieved his aim of becoming justice minister when Fianna F�il returned to power in 1997 and, after a difficult start when his 'zero tolerance' mantra over the previous three years was repeatedly thrown at him, he is regarded as having done a good job. He was seen as being very close to the Taoiseach at this point. The two men have a lot in common - a passion for sport, a down-toearth personality and a fondness for a pint at the end of a hard day - but there is a view that the relationship cooled after 2002.

O'Donoghue is regarded as having made a very good fist of arts, sports and tourism. He was loved by the arts community, which had initially been sniffy about his appointment, and in sport he delivered big time - some would claim too much so - for Kerry. But arguably the biggest issue on his desk was the Taoiseach's dream of a national stadium at Abbotstown. With the PDs firmly ruling that option out, the 'Bertie Bowl' was simply undeliverable and a Lansdowne compromise was reached but some feel O'Donoghue may have suffered for that.

This line of thought is rejected by others in Fianna F�il who say Justice was a politically vital department at the time O'Donoghue was there, involving a huge level of interaction with the Taoiseach, and it was only natural that the dynamic between the two men would change when O'Donoghue moved to a new department.

They also dismiss suggestions O'Donoghue would no longer have been regarded as an absolute Ahern loyalist arguing that, if anything, he suffered for being the type to keep his head down and not complain.

But there is no disputing that, despite being one of the cabinet's better performers, O'Donoghue has slipped in the FF pecking order since 2002 when he was one of a core of 'untouchable' Fianna F�il ministers guaranteed a cabinet return.

The common perception is that O'Donoghue's fate was sealed when he again failed to bring in his running mate in Kerry South. O'Donoghue apparently pulled out all the stops to get two out of three seats but his efforts fell short. Two seats out of six in Kerry, a county once regarded as FF heartland, sticks out like a sore thumb in each of the party's exceptional electoral performances in the past three elections. Next time, Kerry will likely be a five-seater and, with O'Donoghue automatically returned, Fianna F�il seems certain to take two of the remaining four seats. So, three out of five, instead of two out of six. Nothing personal, just business. O'Donoghue, above anyone, will understand.

C.V.

Occupation: Ceann Comhairle of D�il �ireann
Born: 28 May 1956 in Cahirciveen, Co Kerry
Married to: Kate Ann Murphy; two sons and a daughter
Why is he in the news: Became embroiled in his first big row with opposition TDs last week