Achy-Breaky Bertie and his unbelievable truth

HE MAY have been the Mad Dog of the Middle East, but even Colonel Gaddafi had enough sense to steer clear of Ireland — the Wild West of casino capitalism — when it was going down the tubes in late 2010.

For that is when the National Treasury Management Agency was dispatched to Tripoli to plead with the murderous despot to take a 24% stake in the Bank of Ireland for €1.4bn.

But after the meeting with Irish government officials, Gaddafi insisted he did not feel “comfortable” with what was happening in Ireland, and thus politely declined to fill the begging bowl in front of him.