It was the late Albert Reynolds who wisely summed up one of the truths of politics when he spoke about successfully crossing the big hurdles but then getting tripped up on the small ones.
It may at times have been awkward and uncomfortable viewing, but the current Taoiseach capably handled the immense challenge of verbally jiving with the often volatile US President this week.
It was a disciplined and diplomatically deft performance notwithstanding the fact that his Dáil opponents can point to moments when this approach looked excessively meek.
However, is Micheál Martin about to land home in the midst of a political gale?
It looks that way and this is before any talk of altering the Triple Lock, resolving the festering Dáil speaking row, explaining the big drop off in apartment building, ignoring the memo on exaggerated housing figures during the election campaign, and of course finding a way to cope with seemingly inevitable US tariffs on exports.
This is because politicians have been inundated with calls this week from constituents who were unexpectedly either refused humanitarian aid or offered a paltry amount in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.
More than 22,000 people out of close to 63,000 applicants seeking aid to cover the cost of food, clothing and personal items have received payments.
However, TDs have said that thousands have been inexplicably refused, and these rejection letters have been arriving in homes around the country in recent days.
Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín claims the application form for the scheme did not specifically ask for receipts for accommodation, yet the Department of Social Protection is refusing some payments citing a lack of receipts submitted.
The Aontú leader also found examples of the department telling people that they are being refused because the power was only gone for 48 hours, despite these people having endured two weeks without power.
Even though €5.2 million has been paid out under the scheme to date, and the average payment is €229, some of the amounts that have been received are puny.
One letter seen by RTÉ News shows that a household which was without power for more than ten days were told they were eligible for a payment of just €10.
An offer of €15 was made to another homeowner even though the loss of frozen food due to the electricity outage was estimated at €200.
There is also anecdotal evidence of people aged in their 80s who could not use electrically powered medical equipment for 12 days being told they were not eligible for a payment.
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It all points to inconsistencies which are leaving thousands of people very angry.
In addition to this, many had missed out on the first phase of the aid scheme because few seem to have been told that the closing date for applications was 19 February.
The Department of Social Protection explains that this date was chosen because it was 27 days after the onset of the storm and power had been restored to all homes on 12 February.
It also stated that all refusals have a right to seek a review if they believe they have an entitlement to a payment for accommodation, or additional food costs, while their power was out.
The department is advising people to include as much information as possible when requesting a review.
However, this has done little to take the sting out of a damning political charge that this scheme was purposely encased in a boundless amount of red tape to keep the costs low.
Expect to hear this voiced vociferously when the Dáil returns on Wednesday afternoon.
