Here’s the transcript of today’s showdown in the Dail between Enda Kenny (and a chorus) and Brian Cowen.  The record doesn’t capture an apparent swear word that was used by Cowen in the course of the proceedings.  But it does make clear that Cowen never answered Kenny’s question about what had happened to funds allocated to palliative care over the last three years — and whether HSE managers had collected income for managing a program that was never implemented.   More generally, it looks like Cowen’s style will not be like Bertie’s, who was much better at parrying the jabs from the opposition and relying on the briefing book to give what sounded like an answer.  The early evidence that Cowen prefers old style shouting and roaring (”For Deputy Reilly’s attention, I can organise it so that every time his man completes a sentence, I can have people roaring and shouting on this side if he wants.”)