IT MUST be great to be a TD. Or a Senator. They were bussed to Dublin Castle for the lunch and inauguration, then bussed back to Leinster House to do some work before being ferried again to the castle for the State banquet.

Not all were happy, though. “The lads from the country have their wives with them. They don’t know what to be doing with the women, and them in their finery, until the dinner.” Still, at least they didn’t have to drive. And in a rare move, the Leinster House car park will open this morning. The lads and lassies can have a drink and collect their cars with no fear of clamping, or worse.