diff --git a/src/insets/InsetTabular.cpp b/src/insets/InsetTabular.cpp
index 7ad86633da..54b4158b41 100644
--- a/src/insets/InsetTabular.cpp
+++ b/src/insets/InsetTabular.cpp
@@ -525,7 +525,7 @@ string const featureAsString(Tabular::Feature action)
 }
 
 
-DocIterator separatorPos(InsetTableCell * cell, docstring const & align_d)
+DocIterator separatorPos(InsetTableCell const * cell, docstring const & align_d)
 {
 	DocIterator dit = doc_iterator_begin(&(cell->buffer()), cell);
 	for (; dit; dit.forwardChar())
@@ -2308,7 +2308,7 @@ void Tabular::TeXCellPreamble(otexstream & os, idx_type cell,
 	// we center in multicol when no decimal point
 	if (column_info[c].alignment == LYX_ALIGN_DECIMAL) {
 		docstring const align_d = column_info[c].decimal_point;
-		DocIterator const dit = separatorPos(cellInset(cell).get(), align_d);
+		DocIterator const dit = separatorPos(cellInset(cell), align_d);
 		ismulticol |= !dit;
 	}
 
@@ -2533,7 +2533,7 @@ void Tabular::TeXRow(otexstream & os, row_type row,
 		     OutputParams const & runparams) const
 {
 	idx_type cell = cellIndex(row, 0);
-	shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> inset = cellInset(cell);
+	InsetTableCell const * inset = cellInset(cell);
 	Paragraph const & par = inset->paragraphs().front();
 	string const lang = par.getParLanguage(buffer().params())->lang();
 
@@ -2572,7 +2572,7 @@ void Tabular::TeXRow(otexstream & os, row_type row,
 		}
 
 		TeXCellPreamble(os, cell, ismulticol, ismultirow);
-		shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> inset = cellInset(cell);
+		InsetTableCell const * inset = cellInset(cell);
 
 		Paragraph const & par = inset->paragraphs().front();
 
@@ -3321,21 +3321,26 @@ void Tabular::plaintext(odocstringstream & os,
 }
 
 
-shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> Tabular::cellInset(idx_type cell) const
+shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> Tabular::cellInset(idx_type cell)
 {
 	return cell_info[cellRow(cell)][cellColumn(cell)].inset;
 }
 
 
-shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> Tabular::cellInset(row_type row,
-					       col_type column) const
+shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> Tabular::cellInset(row_type row, col_type column)
 {
 	return cell_info[row][column].inset;
 }
 
 
+InsetTableCell const * Tabular::cellInset(idx_type cell) const
+{
+	return cell_info[cellRow(cell)][cellColumn(cell)].inset.get();
+}
+
+
 void Tabular::setCellInset(row_type row, col_type column,
-			      shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> ins) const
+                           shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> ins)
 {
 	CellData & cd = cell_info[row][column];
 	cd.inset = ins;
diff --git a/src/insets/InsetTabular.h b/src/insets/InsetTabular.h
index b23fc85b74..ee5cffcd5e 100644
--- a/src/insets/InsetTabular.h
+++ b/src/insets/InsetTabular.h
@@ -612,13 +612,13 @@ public:
 	/// returns the VISIBLE cell at r,c, which may be the same as the
 	/// cell at the previous row or column, if we're dealing with some
 	/// multirow or multicell.
-	shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> cellInset(idx_type cell) const;
-	shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> cellInset(row_type row,
-						  col_type column) const;
+	shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> cellInset(idx_type cell);
+	shared_ptr<InsetTableCell> cellInset(row_type row, col_type column);
+	InsetTableCell const * cellInset(idx_type cell) const;
 	//@}
 	///
 	void setCellInset(row_type row, col_type column,
-			  shared_ptr<InsetTableCell>) const;
+	                  shared_ptr<InsetTableCell>);
 	/// Search for \param inset in the tabular, with the
 	///
 	void validate(LaTeXFeatures &) const;