Around the houses, there was something of a festive feel as families accompanied TDs, and large tour groups took photos on the steps and made their way to the Dáil bar before their journeys home. After two referendums and three elections in 2024, the prospect of a summer break is welcome for many, as TDs and senators pack up until the middle of September.

Of course, all of those politicians will work across their constituencies and various areas of interest in that time. There is no question of the feet going up for long, especially amongst those who are not certain of their re-election.

But a break is a good time to question what has been achieved in those six months since Mr Martin was elected as leader of the country for a second time. In truth, most around Leinster House will tell you that this Dáil term has been one word: flat.

The fallout from last November's general election meant that the path to a government was narrow for all but a Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael renewal. The disparity in seats meant that even the question of who got to take the first rotation as Taoiseach was without major suspense. 

The scenes of January 22, when the opposition's objections to a speaking arrangement for a group of independents, which includes Michael Lowry, led to Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy suspending the house in dramatic fashion, were less the harbinger of a Dáil high on conflict and now more of an aberration in a fairly staid half year.

While Mr Martin would be elected the day after, the speaking row rumbled on until April and saw a motion of no confidence in Ms Murphy defeated, before more wrangling over committees meant that the guts of half a year went by with little new legislation being progressed. 

Indeed, this session of the Dáil has seen seven bills enacted, the first of which paved the way for an increase in the number of junior ministers the Government was allowed, part of the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael deal with independents.

Those rows meant that the work of the Dáil for some three months largely consisted of talking. There were statements upon statements upon statements. Statements, if you don't habitually watch Dáil proceedings, are just that - TDs take turns to speak on a chosen issue. They are often useful and allow different viewpoints and beliefs to be entered onto the Dáil record. 

But they are not debates and they do not lead to legislation being progressed or rejected. Given the narrower Overton Window in Ireland, they are often not even much different across the board.

There were recriminations about why there were statements, there were statements about the statements.

After the row was put to bed, it took some time for everyone to find their feet. For all of the cohesion that the opposition found within the row, it has largely failed to set the political narrative within the Dáil. 

With issues like health and housing in danger of becoming acute and chronic and therefore unsolvable in the minds of the public, the opposition has hammered the Government's performance, particularly on the latter, and has eyed up the cost-of-living crisis as another safe stick with which to beat the Government, but it has been very much a steady as she goes term.

For the Government, there is a sense of continuity that risks becoming monotony as the same faces grapple with the same problems and, increasingly, find the same results.

Across the Dáil, there was a consensus this week that a break will be welcome. But that will only be true if September's return sees, to borrow a phrase, a new energy.