Still standing, but few believe a word he says

IT was the week that Bertie Ahern said Irish politics was lying in the gutter — and the opposition shot back that the Taoiseach was just lying.

They accused him of lying in the Dáil and lying under oath in Dublin Castle — a rebuke which, if true, would mean the Taoiseach was lying in State (property). But, despite the calamitous battering taken by his reputation, as so often in the past, it was far too soon to start writing his political obituary.

It does not mark the end for Mr Ahern, but this week may well be the one we look back on to pinpoint the beginning of the end.