On Wednesday afternoon and evening a number of groups protesting water charges, austerity and what was happening to Greece gathered outside the Dáil. There are protests of some form or another most days outside of Leinster House on Kildare Street – some number in single figures, some have numbered in their thousands (the pensioners will always stand out for protesting and getting their message across), but rarely has there been the sort of scenes we saw this week.

People have a right to protest, but so too do the people elected to represent people in the building have a right to come and go to their workplace. But let’s leave those issues aside for a minute. Because one issue on Wednesday evening was that the protests weren’t organised, and maybe the Garda response wasn’t all that organised either.

A stroll around Kildare Street and Molesworth Street on Wednesday evening and you would see three tables set up – to sign up to People Before Profit, the Anti Austerity Alliance or the Socialist Workers Party. So from the off there were at least three different factions of ‘the left’ out protesting, and each competing to get their message across.

So later that evening when the “fracas” started and two Senators were prevented from driving out and away to whatever engagements they had, I took a stroll around the protestors to see had there been unity. There hadn’t really. Most of those front and centre, sitting on the street to make their point seemed to be from one of the factions. I don’t know for sure which one, but there were people wearing their ‘AAA’ tee shirts standing on the fringes, looking on, and openly wondering “What do we do?”, “Do we get involved?”, “Is it time to leave?” I left the protest certainly wondering if it was an attempt by one faction of ‘the left’ to show it could cause disruption and show it was more militant than the rest?

The Garda response seemed to be to have a presence, but it wasn’t clear who the senior Garda in charge was, or that any great planning had gone into it. But the response of some of those inside Leinster House seemed to be the most extraordinary of all. There was a demand/request/directive issued – Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan must be present the next morning to oversee an operation that would ensure no repeat of TDs and Senators unable to drive in or out. I was astounded that anyone would even think this was a good idea, never mind express it publicly. It never happened, and neither did any protest.

On Friday morning Noirin O’Sullivan did arrive in Leinster House – not on horseback ready to deploy a new security regime, but driven in followed by an entourage of officials and other senior Gardai. The Commissioner left again within an hour, having appeased the members of the Committee on Procedures and Privilege in a behind closed doors private meeting. Of course she would review the protest, and there would likely be arrests of some of the protestors. She would report back in due course. All was well again – at least in the land of officialdom. But by them some of the various factions of ‘the left’ had departed for Greece, maybe to learn a thing or two about united protests.

Banking on Brian Cowen’s evidence...

Thursday saw what was probably the ‘star witness’ of the Banking Inquiry when former Taoiseach Brian Cowen appeared. But actually just 24 hours before some were saying that Charlie McCreevy was the ‘star witness’.

What we got was some of the Brian Cowens of the past. The morning started off with a sombre, humble Mr Cowen. He accepted responsibility and said sorry, before telling us he wasn’t going to pass the buck, only to then blame the bankers, the regulators, the opposition and anyone else who wanted to take a bit of blame.

Then followed the bullish Brian Cowen – the great debater, if not great orator as he swatted away a couple of the more inexperienced members of the inquiry without having to do much more than wave his hands in various gestures. Though after the lunch break (that didn’t happen until 2:40pm) he returned much more sedate, but still willing to dismiss any suggestions he had done anything wrong or been beholden to any cowboy property developers.

What we didn’t see at all yesterday was the broken, lonely man that we saw in 2010 and early 2011 – the man that had to hand power over to the Troika and Enda Kenny. That period will be under scrutiny when Brian Cowen appears again in the basement committee room next Wednesday. But given what we saw yesterday, he won’t be reliving those times, and instead will tell us there were no other choices. Four years in the wilderness gave him more than enough time to mope about and dwell on the past – now was his time to try and repair the damage done to his legacy, and to Fianna Fáil.

Yes the Dáil is becoming a waste of time...

I can confirm that today's Dáil proceedings, apart from the odd telling contribution, were a complete waste of everyone's time.

— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD (@AodhanORiordain) July 3, 2015

The above tweet is from a junior minister in the Government that told us of the wonderful reform of politics they were doing by introducing Friday sittings. In reality Friday sittings most of the time are nothing more than a show – to let Government backbenchers or Opposition TDs put forward their own bill on something - only to have it voted down the following Tuesday (the Government would never risk a vote on a Friday when the numbers might not be around), or when it is not opposed to see it languish on a list never to be dealt with again.

But on Friday it was Government legislation at second stage in the Dáil chamber – officially called the Civil Debt (Provisions) Bill. It removes the threat of jail for people who don’t pay small debts or fines, but also allows utilities such as Irish Water take someone to court to seek to take the money from their wages, welfare or pensions once they have racked up bills totalling €500.

It descended into farce. Deputy Peter Matthews told us about lots of things other than the legislation at hand. When pulled up he said it was like calling in a painter to paint the wall, but when the painter highlighted the problems with the foundations, he’s told to just paint the wall. But Peter, I mean the problem with that argument though is what does a painter really know about foundations?

Then there was Deputy Catherine Byrne on the Government side. Now let it be said she told the Ceann Comhairle she was going to stray from the real subject matter of the legislation – and he let her. We then got a criticism of those who spend money on cigarettes and alcohol, but won’t pay their water charges.

The Sinn Féin tactic seemed to be to run down the clock as much as they could by calling a quorum. This is where the Government is required to ensure that at least 20 Fine Gael and Labour TDs come into the chamber – though they can leave again as soon as the debate starts. It must be said that getting the required number on the three occasions that it was called took a bit of time. And indeed on the third time the required number hadn’t been reached, but the clock saved them – the Ceann Comhairle advised that as the time had reached 4pm (the set time for the house to adjourn), the debate would be adjourned.

The summer ‘silly’ season has well and truly arrived.