Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has been accused of trying to bring politics into repute by saying the Government would help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages.
A spokesman for the Department of Finance was quick to pour scorn on the suggestion saying that the Cabinet had not considered the idea.
Fine Gael, Labour Fianna Fail and Green Party TDs were also quick to distance themselves from the suggestion. “What is he playing at? Is he trying to bring politics into repute? The public will never buy it,” one TD said.
However, seasoned observers of Leinster House said the issue was a storm in a tea cup. “It’s just talk,” one observer said. “There won’t be any real help for homeowners. No one is going to bring politics into repute.”
Between the new look, the Gigya toolbar down the bottom and talk of them helping people pay their mortgages, I thought I had fallen through a fissure into a parallel universe.