TEMPERS WERE FRAYING in Ballymount late last night as Fine Gael’s Bernard Durkan refused to sacrifice the couch on the ‘Vincent Browne’ panel.

We can count at least five ‘please shut ups’ from Vincent, preceded by as many as ten forlorn shouts of ‘stop’ as the Kildare North Deputy persists in attacking Independent Mattie McGrath over the Alan Shatter checkpoint controversy.

After about two minutes, the exasperated host loses focus to such a degree he even begins shouting at the wrong politician – as the Irish Independent’s Fionnan Sheahan looks on bemusedly throughout.

(Video: Mark Moloney/YouTube)

One stray observation: The name ‘Ballymagash’ – bandied about by both Durkan and McGrath in this clip – is a reference to a 1980s satirical comedy presented by Frank Hall. The term would later become a byword for ‘parish-pump’ politics.

Read: Shatter: ‘Do I think it was a mistake not to mention the incident surrounding Deputy Wallace? …Of course I do’ >

Read: Twitter campaign to get Vincent Browne Song to #1 for charity >

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