TDs take a day off their holidays to talk about some not-so-light summer reading

Frank McNally was in the Dáil yesterday to observe the Ansbacher debate and the side matter of the FAI-Sky deal

There was a holiday atmosphere in the Dáil for the special debate on the Ansbacher report, and it was only a mild surprise when the leader of the Opposition turned up plastered.

Yes, Enda Kenny had broken his wrist in a cycling accident at the weekend and arrived with his left arm in a cast. In fact, when he missed the start of the debate, delegating leadership to his right-hand man (as it were) Richard Bruton, observers blamed the injury. However, it emerged that, plaster and all, he had travelled North for Eve-of-the-Twelfth talks with party leaders before dashing back to the Dáil.

The July 11th atmosphere influenced the demeanour of the many of the recalled TDs. Only 118 made it for the morning vote on the Order of Business and immediately afterwards, most of them marched their traditional route out of the chamber, not to return.

As always happens when people haven't seen each other for a while and won't again for another while, there was much to talk about. Some of the exchanges however were confusing.

Labour's Ruairí Quinn wanted to discuss the FAI/Sky deal, for example, and muttered darkly about Fianna Fáil's alleged affinity with the Murdoch empire. This provoked the Taoiseach to retort that contrary to rumours, "Robert Murdoch" was not a member of his party.

Happily, the authors of the Ansbacher report had a stronger grasp of names, which was doubly fortunate, because Fine Gael's Phil Hogan wanted the authorities to throw the book at some of those identified. Not the inspectors' book, of course: at 9,000 pages, throwing that would amount to capital punishment. But he demanded that those deemed likely to have committed offences be arrested forthwith.

The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, was more guarded on this question.

On a day when even Labour's Tommy Broughan praised her efforts, however, she indulged in some excusable self-congratulation while reviewing the five-year trawl. The investigation was "tested nearly to destruction in the legal sense", she said, but had "come through that cauldron with unassailable authority".

The Government's authority was somewhat less unassailable, with the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance patently differing on the culpability of the Central Bank. But a 9,000-page epic is not light summer reading, so it's no surprise there should be alternative interpretations of the storyline.

Indeed, Fine Gael too lost the plot. Praising the "massive tome", Phil Hogan declared: "No one can fail to be impressed by the level and scale of detailed analysis."

No one, that is, except his party leader, who dubbed the report "a crude and blunt instrument" which "failed miserably to live up . . . to its pre-publication hype".

That summed up the debate. At times, it was as if the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing - but at least in Mr Kenny's case, it had an excuse.