The line-up for Questions and Answers was a bit of a giveaway. Vincent Browne in the hot seat. Two journalists, a former swimmer who is now a doctor and sports pundit, and a county councillor from Wexford.
Mind you, this didn't take away from the entertainment value of the programme. The combination of Vincent's interrogation, emotionally charged subjects (refugees and Michelle de Bruin) and less practised panellists worked well.
In case you wanted any further proof just look at the big news stories this week: the possible return of former bishop Eamonn Casey; the possibility that Aer Rianta might be sold off next year and the further possibility that Aer Rianta employees might get a wad of cash out of it; and the possibility, well, probability, that republican prisoners involved in the killing of gardai may be released from prison. Lots of ifs, buts and maybes, not a lot actually going on.
Looks like everyone's on holiday.
And, of course, who gets the longest holidays of the lot? The TDs and senators. They don't do a tap between the end of June and the middle of October. Spend the whole time working on their tans.
Well. That's definitely not true.
The Dail and Seanad do stop sitting between those dates, but the Oireachtas committees keep working throughout July and September.
(While those same committees had some teething problems when first introduced in the Oireachtas, they have proved an excellent forum for extracting information from government departments and public bodies.) So that leaves August, and if you had the whole month to yourself wouldn't it be great? But you don't.
Each constituency has a series of fetes, festivals, shows and fairs during the summer, and a lot of them will happen during August.
As a sitting TD you will be expected to turn up to all of these. Usually this is a great deal of fun and it certainly provides an opportunity to meet constituents you wouldn't normally run into, but it does make planning a couple of weeks away tricky. Often TDs will skip their holidays rather than let down the organising committees.
This is a mistake. Just like everyone else, our politicians need a pro per break. A couple of weeks reading trashy novels, golfing, swimming and getting up late, a battery re charge. Even during those two weeks, however, it is often not possible to relax completely. For a start, you are on call all year round. If an emergency develops you have to drop everything and return to Leinster House.
Sometimes these occurrences are not what you might call emergencies. Take, for example, the decision by US Speaker Newt Gingrich to start his election campaign here a mere two years ahead of time. Already the Taoiseach has had to interrupt his annual family holiday to meet him.
Holidays within Ireland carry certain risks, particularly if you are a high-profile TD or, worse still, a member of the Government. You'll be enjoying a meal or sitting on a beach with your family and someone will sidle up to you.
They may first apologise for annoying you and then immediately go on to explain in minute detail a problem they've been having, how they've talked to the local TD from your own party and he or she has been unable to help them, how, as a last resort, they were wondering if you could see your way clear to . . .
It doesn't happen often - most are friendly but understanding. They'll say "Hello" and leave you to your time off. This is why so many TDs go to the expense of holidaying abroad - and in case you're wondering, £36,000 a year (before tax) doesn't stretch to transporting you and your loved ones to the Bahamas, St Tropez or Monte Carlo.
OK, so you manage to get your two weeks away and you cover the various functions you have to turn up to and there are no local or national emergencies. What else do you have to worry about?
More meetings and, of course, clinics. The meetings tend to cover the people you haven't had a chance to get to during the rest of the year. Important, and by the time August comes around they'll have been postponed so long they are unavoidable.
The clinics are another matter entirely. Some TDs don't run clinics in August. A lot of people are away, and it is virtually impossible to get anything done arising from those clinics during that month anyway. But that's a risky move.
One solution involves a degree of cross-party co-operation. If you can get all the TDs together and put an advertisement in the local papers explaining that none of you is going to hold clinics this month and list your contact telephone numbers in case of emergency, then you can all rest a little easier.
It doesn't always work, though (as I know from experience). All you need is for one to break ranks and go for the "I'm working hard while the rest are off sunning themselves" kudos and the whole thing falls apart.
But that's it. No more worries - except August is the silly season. The "meedja" have airtime and newspapers to fill and not a lot to fill them with. If you've got an issue you need to raise that wouldn't get a mention during the rest of the year, or if you just want to up your profile and win some brownie points with the party leadership, do it in August.
Of course, if you happen to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, then you are guaranteed coverage.
The Minister of State, Eamon O Cuiv, happened to mention last week that he believed the national media spent too much time focused on sex. Not that radical a point of view, and as he had said it at the Parnell Summer School in Wicklow, it would never have gone any further any other time of the year.
He said it last week, however, and it got wide coverage in the newspapers and on radio. Interestingly, he did make the point as he was being interviewed on local radio that he'd said a lot of other more important things during this particular speech, but it had been the mention of sex that got covered.
This is really my first full summer in 22 years as a civilian. I've got a proper job now with far fewer days off than I ever had before, but I've had so much more time to spend with my family and friends, time to really call my own. It has genuinely come as something of a surprise. That and the "wonderful" weather we have had have me half-convinced it is September already. I doubt many TDs do, though.