IT’S BEEN a difficult week for the Taoiseach. He buried his mother back home in Islandeady on Monday but was at work on Tuesday morning as the Cabinet continued working on next week’s budget statements.

During the general election, when Enda was tearing around the country, he would often move off to a quiet corner for a long chat on the phone with her.

On the night of the election count, as he flew by helicopter to Mayo for the declaration, he thought of his Ma. “She was 93 recently,” he said of Eithne. “I visited her last night. She had a Fine Gael sticker on her dressing gown. Her mind is sharp. She’ll probably say she wants to go to the Dáil with me.”

As it turned out, she wasn’t strong enough to go to Leinster House to see him become Taoiseach, but they spoke before he went into the chamber.

She told him he had made her proud. Enda looked tired this week, and there won’t be much time for him to rest up or reflect. Still, when the brickbats start flying at least Enda knows there is one thing that will never be disputed: he was always good to his mother.