What Fine Gael should be doing to blow Bertie out of the floodwater

HOW is it that Bertie Ahern manages to thrive on bad news? Last weekend’s flooding on the east coast brought misery to residents and frustration to commuters, but the Taoiseach, yet again, was a net gainer.

There he was, on the front page of at least two national newspapers, looking doleful as he waded shin-deep in the flooded streets of his constituency.

“It just goes to show,” one newspaper quipped, “Bertie can’t walk on water.” Wrong. The photo proved the opposite. Apart from the fact that the Taoiseach had a supernatural, almost saintly, look as he hovered over the water, that front page picture was one in the eye for the Fine Gael and Labour press offices, given the week that was in it.