There were fears for the wellbeing of big Jim O’Callaghan after a very tense meeting of the Oireachtas justice committee. “I think he’s hearing voices,” confided one observer afterwards. They were referring to that odd moment when the tetchy Minister for Justice snapped as he was being pressed by Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats to be more specific about the number of solicitors who have been apparently gaming the free legal aid system to make more money from client appearances in criminal cases. As a result he has brought in a new payment system for solicitors. The profession is fuming. At Tuesday’s meeting the public gallery was stuffed with highly put out legal practitioners. Mid-answer – still no figures forthcoming – the barrister turned Minister suddenly interrupted himself to address the chairman. “Sorry, I object to the gallery shouting out abusive comments. You’re here to protect me as well,” he seethed at Matt Carthy, who seemed rather taken aback. The Sinn Féin TD for Cavan Monaghan apologised and said he had not heard any comments, “but I’d ask the gallery to remain silent”. Some journalists tried to find out what abuse had been “shouted” at Big Jim. But they couldn’t find anyone to tell them. So we asked Gary, who was in the thick of it, because we couldn’t hear anything when replaying the audio.“That thing about people saying stuff? I could swear on my life right now that that didn’t happen. I heard nuttin’. The whole thing is very, very strange.”He’s not far wrong. It’s not like the Minister wasn’t aware that he was in front of an audience of hostile legal eagles. Louth Fine Gael TD Paula Butterly, who is a barrister, told him he was “doing a huge injustice to the profession” and to people who need legal services. “When you are taking on such a monumental change of our criminal legal aid it is vital that from the very beginning and to the very end that all the key stakeholders are involved and this does not appear to be the case,” she told him. “The very fact that the gallery here is full of professionals shows that they feel that they have not been heard.”While the shouting out of abusive comments may not have been apparent to those without bionic ears, there was an audible intake of breath followed by disgruntled mumblings when Big Jim came out with a clunker of a reply to Mark Ward’s question about what hourly rate of pay he would have earned when dealing with criminal legal aid cases. With solicitors protesting because he is cutting their earnings for criminal work watching on, senior counsel O’Callaghan came out with: “I was told when I was very young: ‘Crime doesn’t pay.’ I didn’t do any criminal work at the Bar.”That was clever.Sinn Féin TDs get lost in translation over their own amendmentBit of a turn-up for the books in the chamber on Wednesday before the Dáil shut up shop for the afternoon and everyone hightailed it to Dublin Castle for the launch of Ireland’s presidency of the council of the European Union. The main business of the morning was a sparsely attended debate on Aontú’s motion on the cost of living. Party leader Peadar Tóibín said its primary aim was to stop the Government increasing petrol and diesel prices between now and December 1st. The Government tabled an amendment to the motion and Sinn Féin tabled an amendment to the Government amendment. Honest to God, the fun never stops.When the speaking was done, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy put the question as Gaeilge. Is the amendment to the amendment (an leasú ar an leasú) agreed?Verona got an awful lashing from the Opposition – including Sinn Féin – when she was elected Ceann Comhairle, but she’s much better at it now. More proficient at it than some of the Shinners, it seems.She posed the question on the Sinn Féin amendment. There was a pause. Verona reverted to English. “Deputies, is that agreed?”“Not agreed,” declared Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway-Walsh, Mark Ward and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, in strange harmony with the Government’s representative, Robert Troy. Tóibín, a former Sinn Féin member, stepped in with a quick translation to spare the blushes of his former colleagues. The ceann had asked did they agree or disagree with their own amendment to the Government’s amendment? “I know. And they both said it’s not agreed,” she chuckled. Finally, at Sinn Féin’s request, Verona kindly agreed to ask the question again, as béarla. “We’ll do it in English, as they say,” she said, smiling. This time, they got the answer right.And everyone went off to get the bus to Dublin Castle.In our report on Thursday of the comings and goings at the launch, we said the Ceann Comhairle didn’t have to go on the bus. This is because she has a car and a State driver. However, we omitted to mention that Verona took the bus anyway. Probably to have more of the chats in Irish. Delighted with herself.Aontú TD expends much energy in debate over renewablesDuring the same debate, Peadar’s Dáil sidekick, Mayo TD Paul Lawless, gave a rousing speech on the cost-of-living crisis, lambasting the Government for not going far enough to help people struggling to pay energy bills. He spoke after Minister of State for nature, heritage and biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan opened for the Government. He stressed that ramping up renewables was the key to reducing energy costs. “The Opposition would prefer to lead us down a path that we cannot come back from and tie us into fossil fuels forever, which is only going to continue to lead to increased energy prices.”Lawless pushed back his laptop screen and rose to speak as his leader tip-tapped on a keyboard in the adjoining seat.He began by tackling the Fianna Fáil junior minister over his remarks about renewable energy. “This Government has a policy of increasing the number of data centres. For every new wind or solar development the vast majority of that additional capacity is going to data centres.”Christopher cast a deadpan eye across the floor. “Sez yer man with the laptop.”Zelenskiy joins in the Euro Lingo Bingo at Dublin CastleVolodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, at a press conference after the opening ceremony at Dublin Castle to mark the start of Ireland's presidency of the council of the European Union. Photograph: Alan Betson President Volodymyr Zelenskiy cracked a little joke as he neared the end of his speech in Dublin Castle on Wednesday. It was to do with fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU accession and there was laughter in the premium seats up front among the senior politicians and knowing chortles from the Eurocrats. We hadn’t a clue. Zelenskiy appeared to be talking about “clusters” and the only thing we could think of was cluster bombs, and they’re hardly a cause for mirth. Further investigation revealed that he was referring to his country’s accession negotiations. They are split up into six “thematic clusters” and within these are negotiating chapters. The first cluster opened in Cyprus and things are moving forward. “We can open five more clusters. Antonio, what do you think?” he said to European Council president António Costa, who thought this was gas. Here’s a game that might get people though the tedium to come. Euro Lingo Bingo. Have a large drink each time a baffling EU word comes up. Does anyone know where our gymnich will be? A gymnich meeting is an informal gathering of the foreign ministers of the member states, held during each rotating presidency since 1974. It is when the ministers are released into the wild at a secure location without the supervision of their handlers for a couple of days. Some of them probably go buck mad, and who knows what else goes on, but apparently it creates an environment for an informal and frank exchange of views. It’s called after Schloss gymnich in Germany, where the first of these events took place. Had that first meeting happened a year later, these informal getaways would now be known as a “Farmleigh”. Ireland’s inaugural European Economic Community (EEC) presidency was in the first half of 1975. The taoiseach was Fine Gael’s Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald was his minister for foreign affairs. Back then, the EEC was much smaller – just nine member countries. Dublin Castle was where most of the business took place, but Ireland needed somewhere to send the foreign ministers for their gymnich. Garret’s son Mark FitzGerald remembers there were problems at the time trying to find a suitable location. “We had nowhere large enough to host it, so my mother rang up Miranda Iveagh to ask could we borrow Farmleigh,” he says. “Miranda and Benjamin [Guinness] duly agreed.”The State bought the Phoenix Park estate in 1999 to use as an official guest house and conference venue.Rain fails to dampen spirits at US ambassador’s Fourth of July partyThe American ambassador’s annual Fourth of July knees-up went ahead as planned on Wednesday night. Many of the home-grown political guests faced a quick turnaround following the afternoon events at Dublin Castle to make the jamboree on the expansive lawn outside Edward Walsh’s Deerfield residence. The weather was lovely for the city centre gig, a warm welcome for António Costa and special guest Zelenskiy. The guests in the Phoenix Park were not so fortunate. It rained on Uncle Sam in the early part of the evening and, with about 4,000 guests along for the party, conditions inside the sweltering marquee were challenging at times. Or as one perspiring attendee put it: “We were bet into the tents.”Regular guests at the annual celebration reported that this year’s was supercharged compared with parties past. The entertainment, glitz and glam factor was ramped up to mark the US’s 250th anniversary.Golf was big on the agenda and the Ryder Cup was displayed on a plinth. Among the people admiring it were the newly crowned Miss Universe Ireland, Aideen Howard, and Miss Ireland Caoimhe Kenny.The Taoiseach witnessed his second round of anthems and flag-raising ceremony in what was a packed day for him.He delivered another speech and then Donald Trump materialised on the big screens and delivered a long speech from behind the Oval Office, looking like his hands, one on top of the other, had been nailed to the Resolute desk. Trump hinted heavily that he’ll be over here for the Irish Open in September at his Doonbeg golf resort in Co Clare. Deep joy exploded in the hearts of foreign affairs officials and security bosses who will also be in the middle of the EU council presidency. Michael Flatley, Michael Healy-Rae and Marty Morrissey were at the party and the night ended with a big fireworks show after the entertainment. All that was missing was a UFC cage.The EU caravan moved on to Cork. We hear the Cabinet went drinking in Costigan’s pub on Washington Street as soon as Ursula von der Leyen and the other Brussels bigwigs were off the scene.