Ahern resignation - It’s time to unite against dishonesty

In the first act of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the execution of Thane of Cawdor is described to King Duncan:

With one that saw him die; who did report That very frankly he confessed his treasons, Implor’d your Highness’ pardon, and set forth A deep repentance. Nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it.”

And though Bertie Ahern has not been accused of treason, his weekend assertion that his resignation from Fianna Fáil “should not be interpreted as an admission of wrongdoing” makes it impossible to feel even the kind of flickering sympathy afforded to Cawdor as the axe fell.