Curtain closes on one hell of a non-performance

HE never glanced up. Never. It was head down all the way. No telling glances across at the opposition. No gesture to hammer home a point. Not a single behaviour that the camera would like.

Bertie Ahern stood up in Leinster House yesterday and read an essay. A tightly constructed essay, filled with data. Pocket-calculator data: “At the time I lodged this money into my account, on 11 October 1994, the sterling/punt exchange rate was 0.9883. The sterling equivalent of Irish £7,938.49 was circa sterling £7,845.61.”

If it was data-rich, it was also rich in tax details and quotations from legislation and guidelines about the receiving of gifts.