WORD OF the week: “Slushfundability.” It was coined by Fine Gael’s Michael D’arcy during Wednesday’s debate in the Seanad on the selling off of the National Lottery licence.

The Wexford Senator used it to sum up how sporting organisations in certain constituencies benefited disproportionately when grants were awarded thanks to the influence of their local ministerial bigwig.

“The slush fund ability of the way the sports capital programme operated was disgraceful and appalling but, if memory serves me correctly, there has not been a sports capital application since 2008,” he said.

“Slush fund wha?” asked Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien.

“Slushfundability. You know what I mean,” replied D’arcy.

“I’ve no idea what he’s talking about,” said O’Brien, far too young to be familiar with the golden era of Fianna Fáil favouritism on the funding front.

Labour’s John Gilroy sought to help him understand its meaning. “To illustrate what Senator Michael D’Arcy meant by it, I can point to a certain boathouse in the constituency of a former minister with responsibility for sport that cost so much it would probably have been cheaper to build the ships rather than the boathouse.”

Gilroy’s colleague Ivana Bacik was very impressed by D’arcy’s addition to the Leinster House lexicon.

“This has been a lively and enlightening debate which is notable for the emergence of a new word: ‘slushfundability’, which will certainly be quoted in the future.”