Noel Ahern doesn’t give much weight to John Gormley’s worries aired yesterday and captured here by Green Ink. He reckons that Gormley was only following Harney and anyway he is Minister with responsibility for tribunals so should be keeping counsel. Well it is only “small money” we are talking about here so perhaps the partners in government should pipe down and get back to their jobs.

Ahern has set himself against making a statement, which means that this should overshadow his upcoming trip to Congress, the next few weeks in the Dail and any attempt to coherently campaign on Lisbon Treaty. As usual this may die down, it may not force him to resign but there is every reason to think that the drip-drip of information and the slow unravelling of a story will continue.

He will continue to brass-neck this particular issue and hope it goes away but it is another cut, another slow wound and they are adding up. Varadker termed Ahern’s refusal to make a statement an arrogant “slap-down” (how very WWF) and to be honest it reminded me ever so slightly of this: