He may have insulted his opposition colleague with unparliamentary language but at least you can say that Green TD and general clown Paul Gogarty obeyed his party whip and voted for the welfare cuts.

Gogarty's crude attack on Emmet Stagg – "F*** you , deputy Stagg. F*** you" ? nicely demonstrated his inarticulate inability to be a political player of any consequence. He seems unable to run silently with the pack and hunt with the hounds.

For that, he needs to learn lessons from some of Fianna Fáil's former greats. Three of them gave a masterclass in double standards when they absented themselves from the budget vote on welfare cuts last Friday. Guess who? Why, Bertie Ahern, John O'Donoghue and Jim McDaid, of course.

Donegal TD Niall Blaney was the fourth man ? he was away on "parliamentary business".