The Dealer nearly choked on his cup of tea this week when former Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan made a quip about losing her Dáil seat over a decade ago at a conference in Athlone.

Chairing a packed panel at the National Rural Network’s EIP-Agri conference, the former Tánaiste found herself without a seat on stage.

“This is not the only man who has taken my seat before,” she said in jest to one of the panellists.

Many in the room laughed at the joke, referring to Independent TD Thomas Pringle taking her seat in the 2011 general election.