A day after the New York Stock Exchange, the Dβil too reopened in a symbolic response to last week's events.
But amid all the expressions of sympathy and solidarity, there was a feeling that even words had lost some of their value, driven to a new low by the sheer horror of the attacks on America.
The Labour leader, Mr Ruair∅ Quinn, admitted as much when he said the terms traditionally used to condemn terrorist attacks seemed like "devalued currency" against the background of what happened in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
As elected representatives, however, he and his Dβil colleagues must "struggle" to articulate the feelings of the nation. And struggle they did, on an occasion as sombre as the chamber has seen.
But it was only when the debate turned to the lessons for the Irish peace process that the verbal exchanges rallied and passion levels rose.
The Taoiseach's speech was as restrained as he hoped the US government's actions would be. Ireland's experience gave us some insight into what Americans were feeling, he said, but he added: "The response must not be merciless. It must be measured and not indiscriminate. It must enhance the stature of those who carry it out - not diminish them - in the eyes of the world." And as Ireland prepared to take the chair of the UN security council, he sounded a sombre note. Never in recent history had the world faced such uncertainty. "The decisions and actions that will be taken are going to have a profound effect for generations."
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, agreed it was much too early to speculate on how last week's events would change "the course of history".
He quoted Lincoln's Gettysburg address to express the resolve that Americans and democrats in general must now find. But maybe it was because the implications were so huge and uncertain that he turned his focus on Sinn FΘin and the IRA.
Republicans should no longer risk the goodwill this country enjoyed in the US, he warned. Their continuing refusal to decommission was "an appalling signal to send at any time, but particularly so following last week's atrocities". The questions raised by the arrests in Colombia must be answered and, above all, it was time "for Sinn FΘin and the IRA to get off the fence" on the issue of violence.
The comments caused a brief outbreak of civil war politics. Sinn FΘin's Caoimhgh∅n ╙ Caolβin called them "shameful" and accused Mr Noonan of using the atrocities as "a stick with which to beat Sinn FΘin".
But where the Fine Gael leader had spoken softly as he wielded the stick, his party colleagues heckled the Sinn FΘin deputy vigorously.
And with the US and British ambassadors in the visitors' gallery, Socialist TD Joe Higgins then raised more hackles, if not heckles, when he argued that the civilians of Iraq and Palestine were also victims of terrorism.
The mood was still sombre when the special two-hour debate finished. But there was at least a sense of a return to normal business as the Dβil closed again.
