…doing the decent thing? It is extraordinary that it has taken Bertie Ahern this long to resign. His evidence before the Mahon Tribunal has been nothing more than the courtroom equivalent of a comb-over. It might be superficially convincing to the man himself but no onlooker can possibly have been fooled by it. The feeble pleas of lapses of memory and no wrongdoing are the shameful responses of a child caught in the act who will not own up. Would no-one draw him aside at any point and urge him to maintain some shred of self-respect? To spare his family, or his party? Naturally Brian Cowen had nothing to gain by forcing the issue – he could afford to let things take their course while sheltering under the dubious virtue of party loyalty – but what about the rest of Fianna Fail? This is a further and blatant indication of the contempt in which politicians hold the voting public. And they are correct to do so. Whether through complacency or partisanship, the voting public in this country does not punish Fianna Fail at the polls, no matter how mired in corruption the party leadership may be. The man who will emerge worst off from this undignified episode is surely John Gormley whose gutless failure to either demand Bertie’s resignation or to tender his own will destroy the Green Party’s ability to present themselves as anything other business as usual.
