Bertie blunder names and shames O’Malley at home

AS if things weren’t bad enough for the PDs, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern couldn’t get the name of one of his PD junior ministers right last night at a function in the unfortunate TD’s home city.

At a gala function in Limerick, the Taoiseach kept referring to “my ministerial colleague Tom O’Malley” instead of correctly dropping the name of locally-based junior minister for health Tim O’Malley.

The Taoiseach’s gaffe drew sniggers from 200 bow-tied guests at the hotel, as Mr O’Malley listened red-faced from the podium, at an event that was supposed to kick-start his re-election campaign.