Draw Breath

Poor old Bertie. It's been quite a week for him: a fouled up announcement of the election (whatever happened to the Council of State?) to the rising controversy over his finances to Vincent Browne's spectacular grilling (and put-down of P.J. Mara) at the Fíanna Fáil manifesto launch to the PD's self-serving ('vote for me: I'm not with stupid!') wobble and subsequent statement.

What's happening to him? There's a reason Bertie has been Taoiseach for ten years and that's that he is a smart and sophisticated politician. This week has been precisely the opposite of that.

My suspicion is that we ought to take pause before condemning him outright, however. Which isn't by way of endorsement. I simply think that we need to view and judge Bertie in the context of his personal situation and given what we know about Irish politics at the time when all the financial dealings went through.

First, he obviously had some severe domestic troubles, as so many politicians do. His marriage fell apart and he was likely in financial dire straits as a result. Political marriages are just that: political. If you're in politics and your partner has another hobby, then things are likely to get rough for you both. So, let's just say that we should feel for people whose private lives are in chaos.

Then there's the money. Well, of course we don't know the ins and outs of this, but here's a guess.

There are obviously degrees of corruption in Irish politics. We can pretty much know, for instance, that Haughey, when he took gifts, probably didn't give outright favours in return. He simply regarded himself as a man deserving of large cash gifts from wealthy friends.

Then there are others who were engaged in more classically corrupt activities, such as, in the opinion of the Second Interim report of the Flood Tribunal (pdf),¹ Ray Burke.

And where does Bertie sit in all this? Well, I'm not with United Irelander in thinking they're all a shower of crooks (though the tax man might be twitching his moustache). Rather I think that Bertie was probably in financial difficulties in the wake of a marriage breakdown, and also in a situation where monetary largesse was flowing around those on the political and social inside track. And he took the gift. Probably, if my guess (and this is all only guesswork) is right, without Haughey's preening sense of natural entitlement.

Not that this means we ought not to judge him. Or that what he seems to have done is not open to judgement. On the contrary. But it strikes me about Bertie (and has done for a long time) that he's less corrupt and more morally lazy. He took the gift(s?) because it provided an easy route out of a difficult situation. And, given the political environment at the time, he probably did so more or less thoughtlessly

The problem is that ethics have a price. Most often they take work and sacrifice. In 1980s Fíanna Fáil political circles, they had a financial price too.

I hope that if I was ever in the situation I wouldn't take the gift. But, though I can hope, I'll never actually know.

¹ See Chap. 4.02-4.11; 4.78. For background on the flood tribunal see good old Wikipedia.