DAIL SKETCH: Looking like a man who had come through a dark night of the soul, Martin Cullen sat throughout the afternoon on the Government benches, writes Michael O'Regan.
The red in his tie blended with the red of the several ministerial briefs piled high on the bench before him.
On Monday, the Standards in Public Office Commission decided not to launch a full inquiry into the granting of €300,000 worth of public relations contracts. Yesterday, it was his turn to take routine Department of Transport questions.
"I notice," said Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, "that Deputy Cullen seems a little happier in his brief today."
The Dublin North Central Independent, Finian McGrath, remarked: "The great survivor." Mr Cullen waited for the inevitable question about the issue which has haunted him for months. But, first, there was his own Question Time. And it was his Minister of State, Ivor Callely, who was not in the House, rather than the Opposition, who felt the sharp side of his tongue.
Fine Gael's Olivia Mitchell raised the Government's promised metro for the northside of Dublin, citing promises made by Dublin North Central's Mr Callely, known far and wide throughout the political world for his massive Christmas card output.
Mr Callely's commitment "sometimes overruns with enthusiasm", said Mr Cullen dryly, adding that some of the Junior Minister's pronouncements to the Fourth Estate were just guesswork.
Enda Kenny suggested that Mr Callely seemed to have got a "rush of Valentine's blood" to the head on Monday.
This left Labour's Pat Rabbitte, who had earlier exchanged by-election Valentine cards with Mr Kenny, wondering what might be in store for the body politic.
"Just when we had grown accustomed to getting Christmas cards from Deputy Callely, we will have to prepare for Valentine cards as well," he declared.
"I am not sure the system will be able to cope with that."
At Opposition leaders' questions, Mr Cullen stared into the middle distance as the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, defended him on the public relations contracts.
"There is nothing to suggest that the Minister acted inappropriately in the matter in question," said Mr Ahern, in reply to the Green Party's Trevor Sargent.
There was occasional evidence of the pressure of the moment. Mr Cullen clasped his hands, pursed his lips, moved his shoulders, until, at 4.40 p.m., he gladly left the Chamber to make way for the moving of the by-election writs.
The March 11th date was agreed. This was followed by a series of speeches which would have done justice to the hustings in Meath and Kildare North. The campaigns were underway.