Despite headlines to the contrary, poll shows drop in Government support

I DON’T know whether you heard former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds on Marian Finucane’s radio programme last Sunday.

Discussing the latest political opinion poll, he seemed to re-open the whole Bertiegate affair, when he described himself as shocked by the revelations a few months ago about the contributions the current Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, received in Manchester. (At the time, of course, Albert was Taoiseach and Bertie was Finance Minister.) There was no way, Albert declared, that he would have allowed Bertie to accept that money had Bertie asked his permission, and there was no way a finance minister should accept such money.

In the overall scheme of things, perhaps, it’s not such a big deal. Just another reminder that, in politics, nothing ever really goes away. Just when you think you’ve lived down some embarrassment, it pops up again somewhere. Albert’s intervention in the affair, even at this late stage, might well serve to remind people of something that, apparently, they would rather forget.