There has not been a summer in the past decade where during the arid heat of July or August an Opposition TD jumps up and down and demands the Dáil be recalled during the summer recess to deal with some alleged emergency. And there has not been a summer in the past decade that the demand has not been completely ignored by the Government of the day (and most other TDs). And then, out of the blue, it happens. But instead of a thunderbolt, it’s more of a flash and a fizzle. [ Further deferral of increases in fuel prices beyond November possibleOpens in new window ]For, anticlimactically, the whole kit and caboodle will be dispensed in the space of a miserly 70 minutes.On the political space-time continuum, it’s essentially blink and you will miss it. The reconvened sitting of the Dáil will happen at warp speed and be over almost as soon as it’s started. The backgroundThe reason the Dáil is being recalled is not strictly an emergency. It’s an unfortunate timing event. In early July when it looked like hostilities between the US and Iran were being wrapped up and it seemed that Donald Trump was on the verge of announcing the most historic deal in all of history, prices at the pumps began to go down a little. The Government was emboldened to begin the process of clawing back the cuts in excise taxes it announced earlier in the summer. In the round, they came to a total of 32c per litre for diesel and 29c per litre for petrol. It was to be a tapered process with the first reduction kicking in on Monday – which would have resulted in a 10c price increase for a litre of diesel and 9c for a litre of petrol. However, events just did not play out the way that Simon Harris and the Government envisaged. Within days the negotiations between the US and Iran went south. And as far as Hormuz was concerned it continued to be dire straits. And as the middle of August approached, the price per litre began creeping up to the ominous €2 per litre mark, even with the 32c supplement. The lobby groups and Opposition parties were quickly out. So was the Government. Whatever else, Ministers knew that unless action was taken September would be a brutal month for the Government politically. The Cabinet met yesterday incorporeally – by video-link – to rubber-stamp the change but in truth the decision was made over a week ago. The new date for the increase is now November 1st, with subsequent increases in December, January and February. And, as we report, the statement following the Government meeting included language that will allow another deferral should the situation in the Gulf not improve. What to watch out for todayIt will be short and it will be sharp. A total of 60 minutes has been scheduled for the debate. Government speakers will get a total of 15 minutes with a total of 45 minutes for Opposition parties and Government-supporting Independents. At noon, the debate will be guillotined and the financial resolution will be put to the House. A total of 10 minutes has been allotted for the votes. Of course at the meeting of the business committee yesterday (which decides on the Order of Business), all of the Opposition whips dissented to the tight timing proposed by Government Chief Whip Mary Butler.It will be interesting to see how many TDs turn up for debate today and how the debate itself will pan out. The paucity of time will hardly allow Pearse Doherty to build up to AC/DC decibel levels of fury, or for Holly Cairns to fully unfurl her carefully curated speech. The vote will also be interesting. The Opposition parties all demanded that the increase be deferred. That is indeed what the Government has done. Voting against what you called for is tricky, but, of course, there is a Sir Humphrey lurking in every political party who is capable of turning such logic on its head. The Border pollSinn Féin’s preoccupation today will likely not be what happens in the Dáil but will be dissing Andy Burnham’s comments yesterday that a Border poll is “off the table”. The British prime minister was responding to a question from The Irish Times during a visit to Belfast yesterday when he came out with the bombshell. “I am here to listen and to collaborate, but some issues will be off the table, and that is one of them,” he said. Wow. Full stop. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who also met Burnham in Belfast yesterday, was unsurprisingly highly critical of his comments. She said he “simply does not have the right to dismiss or disregard that commitment (contained in the Good Friday Agreement)”.However, such an early and decisive statement on a key target of the biggest nationalist party in the North will surely set a tone, and indeed lead to strain. Gerry Moriarty and Pat Leahy report all the details for us this morning. Wrong-way driving In the afternoon, Minister of State for road safety Seán Canney is convening a meeting with agencies, senior civil servants and the Garda Commissioner to discuss if technology and early warning systems can be employed to address the deadly phenomenon of wrong-way driving on motorways and dual carriageways. We have details of what he will discuss here.Inside Politics PodcastDon’t forget our wrap-of-the-week-on-politics podcast that will be available later today here.