By John Knox BBC Scotland political reporter

Jack McConnell was as sick as a parrot when he turned up for question time on Thursday.

The first minister had just heard the disappointing news from Geneva that Scotland and Ireland had lost their joint bid to host Euro 2008.

He managed to stutter out congratulations to the winners, Austria and Switzerland.

"We wish them well. But we are disappointed at the outcome. The 2008 tournament here in Scotland would have been a fantastic festival for football.

"It would have shown everything that was good about Scotland. And it would have been financially beneficial to everyone."

Kevin Dunion: New appointment

SNP leader John Swinney repeated the first minister's words - yes like a sick parrot - and even held off criticising the way the bid was made.

There was, after all, that last minute decision by the Scottish Executive that it could not afford a solo bid and Scotland should instead team up with Ireland.

"A bid for 2012 would be a good long term ambition for Scotland" said Mr Swinney.

The first minister didn't promise anything but said, in any case, a substantial part of the �80m earmarked for 2008 would still be spent on Scottish sport.

There were plenty of other sick parrots around at Holyrood this week.

Stormy vote

There was Kevin Dunion, for one.

Mr Dunion, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth, was chosen by a selection panel of MSPs for the job of Scotland's first freedom of information commissioner.

Everyone rather assumed his appointment would be approved on the nod.

Not so, it turned out that the selection panel had been divided 4-3 on the issue.

Duncan Hamilton, the SNP representative on the panel, told parliament Mr Dunion was not the best candidate for the job.]

Bill Aitken for the Conservatives said the same.

It appears they favoured the former chief inspector of prisons Clive Fairweather.

Sick parrots

An angry debate followed, with Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs accusing the SNP of undermining the credibility of parliament, just because they lost the vote in a committee.

In a curious sort of way, it was one of the most passionate debates of the season.

Even the normally unexcitable Green MSP Robin Harper said the debate was "teetering on the fringe of the brink of being regrettable".

So it was a pretty disgraceful affair and certainly an interesting way to launch the post of freedom of information commissioner.

Mr Dunion was approved by 91 votes to 15 with 14 abstentions.

Sir David Steel: Holyrood costs going up

But there were more sick parrots to come.

The Liberal Democrat Mike Rumbles and the SNP's Fergus Ewing fought all week against the proposed boundaries of the new National Park in the Cairngorms.

They wanted the Perthshire Hills included.

After an unconvincing performance by the minister Allan Wilson at the rural development committee, it looked like MSPs would vote against accepting the new boundaries.

But in the end, they decided by 9 votes to 2 to that it was better to have the park in place by the election next May than for the uncertainty to continue.

Messers Rumbles and Ewing then argued for a full hour-long debate on the floor of the chamber.

'Robust grilling'

That however was denied them and after a formal debate lasting just nine minutes, MSPs approved the order establishing the new park by 100 votes to 20.

Another sick parrot was Tony Cameron, the head of the prison service.

He was called to answer questions by the petitions committee on the controversial closure of the prison officer's social club at Polmont.

He was given a suitably robust grilling.

The health committee meanwhile gave Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm a roasting over support for patients who had contracted hepatitis C through faulty NHS blood products back in the 1980s.

He said the NHS could not afford the �80m it might cost and he was obviously worried about setting a precedent.

Bill concerns

The main debates of the week have been on child poverty, the fishing industry and the new Mental Health Bill.

There have been two important committee reports this week.

One came from the finance committee which criticised the Scottish Executive over "accumulative accounting" in the way it presents its budget.

And the social justice committee warned that more resources are needed if the Homelessness Bill is to be effective.

The final sick parrot this week was the presiding officer himself.

Sir David Steel had to admit to the finance committee on Friday that the complicated glazing at the new parliament building could not be completed until August 2003.

Altogether it was not a good week to be a parrot at Holyrood.