DEAR oh dear. When a normally mild-mannered man gets hot under the collar you can be certain the heat is on. Take John Maloney. John who, you may ask? John is the new Minister of State with responsibility for Disability and Mental Health, otherwise known as the jammy git who caught a lucky breaking ball when Brian Cowen jumped highest to oust Bertie Ahern.

Maloney is from the Taoiseach's constituency, Laois-Offaly. He is a publican and undertaker, two professions firewalled from recession. People die, particularly the old, the sick and the infirm. So John is safe on that score. And during a crisis, I suppose, we do like to drown our sorrows.

Last week John was a little upset. In fact, he was very upset; so upset, indeed, that he lost the run of himself entirely and libelled me, outrageously, on his local radio station; not only me but also a dozen other people, whom he has never met -- actually, he doesn't believe they exist -- and who, if they had heard the recording -- I have it here -- might not be as charitable as I am.

Last weekend John was particularly agitated by an opinion poll in the Sunday Independent which showed that Brian Cowen's popularity is plummeting, as you might expect, during a recession, with people losing their jobs and money and, well, in some cases, even their dignity.

Not that John, personally, would have to worry about that, him being nice and snug in his pub and his hearse and his big ministerial job, which comes with a €150,000 basic salary, not to mention all those expenses: last year 20 junior ministers -- tell me again why we need 20? -- shared €2m in expenses between them. So I guess you could say John is doing very nicely.

Anyway, on Monday morning Midlands Radio 3 decided to follow up our opinion poll. So they rang Fianna Fail TDs, not only in Laois-Offaly, but throughout the midlands. Most accepted the results as presented, that is, as a snapshot in time, an indication of how the country was feeling at that given moment.

But John didn't. First of all, he said, he didn't believe the opinion poll. It was not that he did not believe the country was falling out of love with the Taoiseach -- something John could never be accused of -- but that he did not believe such an opinion poll was undertaken at all.

Kind of getting it out of the way first, before going on to libel me, John said Brian Cowen was "doing a good job", which was bit like Marie Antoinette enthusing about the skill of her executioner at chopping off heads.

At least Marie had a bit of class. Her last words to Sanson, her executioner, were, "I'm sorry; I did not mean to do it", spoken when she accidentally stepped on his foot as she climbed the scaffold.

John, though, had this to say: "If you're talking, specifically, about the poll written by Jody Corcoran and the Sunday Independent, I would have to say I have no belief whatsoever in any poll Jody Corcoran would conduct."

First of all, I did not conduct the poll. The poll was conducted by Quantum Research.

Then, said John: "I feel he has a personal vendetta against Brian Cowen. I have seen this since Brian became Taoiseach and . . . maybe something didn't happen for him."

John was referring, in his own sly way, to an outrageous lie published some weeks ago by the Phoenix, who I am suing for libel, an action which will probably be heard in the Circuit Court, where John may now be required to give evidence.

The Phoenix published that I had sought a position as adviser to the new Minister for Education, Batt O'Keeffe, a claim which is totally untrue and damaging to me, as I would have told them if they had bothered to contact me before publication.

The Phoenix has, so far, declined to correct the record. Indeed, they are trying to ignore me.

At least the Daily Mail, with whom I have exchanged words in the past, had the good grace to put it right after they had published the Phoenix's bullshit story, also without checking with me first.

By the way, when I asked the editor of the Phoenix why he had not contacted me before he published his untrue story he said he had not done so because I would have only denied it. Go figure.

Since the Phoenix published its falsehood, however, I have been hearing it back from various people who, apparently, thought it must be true.

I am keeping a record: Tony Gregory's secretary, for example, spoke to me as if it were true; members of my family in Offaly, who know the truth, have been hearing it from gobshite Fianna Fail hangers-on in Tullamore; people in the office here, all thanks to the Phoenix's shoddy journalism.

In any event, in relation to our poll, John said: "I'd say that's himself, Jody, making the phone calls around and coming up with the answers himself. I've no belief in him whatsoever."

When the incredulous reporter asked if he really believed that, John warmed to his task: "I do absolutely believe that, and I'm delighted I've the opportunity to say it."

The allegation, therefore, is that I had contrived to seek employment from Batt O'Keeffe and, because I was refused, that I am abusing my cherished position as a Sunday Independent journalist to seek retribution by engaging in a vendetta against the Taoiseach.

As I say, it is damaging in the extreme.

It also shows that certain elements in Fianna Fail will sink to any depth to smear the messenger when they don't like the message, and how they will always find a willing accomplice, like the Phoenix, who, shall we say, has form in relation to me.

By the way, Brian Cowen, the legitimate subject of my recent trenchant writing, is having no truck with this crap: he made a point of being friendly with me, shaking my hand indeed, when we met in Brussels a couple of weeks ago.

Then again, Brian has a bit of class underneath his grumpy exterior.

John went on to regale his radio listeners with how he had met me in Offaly during the Taoiseach's homecoming. (We met in Edenderry, Tullamore and Clara, where we enjoyed a refreshing pint together.)

He told of how I was "over the moon" with Brian's elevation. Over the moon might be putting it a bit strongly, but, certainly, as an Offaly man, I was pleased -- as I wrote at the time -- that one of our own had been elected Taoiseach, while, in the same article, referring to the crisis the economy was facing into, a prediction which has come to pass.

Implicitly, John seems to think that I cannot be happy for the Taoiseach on a personal level but critical of him on a professional level.

But, of course, it is just business, as Cowen knows. I must be critical of him on a professional level: notwithstanding international events, the economy has gone down the tubes on his watch.

In his hamfisted way, John went on and on about me, even when his interviewer tried to move him on to safer ground.

He remembered me "printing up a story in the middle of the last general election" where I "absolutely came out vehemently to say that the PDs were now out of government on foot of explosive information concerning the Taoiseach's finances".

You may remember the then justice minister, Michael McDowell, was aware that I had certain information on the Taoiseach's finances. He approached me for the information. I provided it to him through a conduit.

In a subsequent article, I, and others, reported that the PDs were, indeed, upset by the information, and that they were considering pulling out of government, which they were, until, on a Saturday night, John's then constituency colleague, Tom Parlon, for one, prevailed upon Mr McDowell to hasten more slowly.

In any event, on Midlands Radio, John went on, professing himself to be "not happy at all", before adding: "I particularly don't believe any issues that Jody Corcoran writes about on any issue concerning Fianna Fail."

Now that is surprising, because in the past John was, occasionally, one of those touchstones I would sound to gauge the mood in Fianna Fail on any given issue.

Indeed, with a few others, I would have been guided by John's opinion, him being close to Cowen.

But perhaps it is that John is, after all, terribly conflicted with himself, and does not even believe his own views, in which case I would be very worried for his future in politics.

John concluded his interview by stating that, while the economy was in, eh, difficulty, everything would be okay eventually and that we will all bounce back, or words to that effect. Which gave me an idea . . .

John is from Mountmellick in Co Laois, a town I am familiar with. Two of my favourite aunts are from the area. It was once a prosperous town, thanks to the Quakers, who settled there hundreds of years ago.

From what John has had to say, it must still be prosperous, indeed, so prosperous that it is capable of withstanding this little upset we are going through, caused by international events outside our control, don't you know.

What better place, then, to be the Sunday Independent's barometer town during this recession: yes folks, we will be down to Mountmellick soon to see how you are doing, to monitor your great progress, the new jobs, the healthy housing market, the jingle of disposable income in your pockets.

Indeed, we will be down many times between now and whenever this recession lifts, or between now and the general election, whichever comes first.

Put the kettle on, John. I will see you soon my friend.

- Jody Corcoran