Commanding loyalty proved out of reach for men lured by legacy

The enactment of power in economic crisis by Haughey after 1987 and of Gilmore after 2011 was remarkably similar, writes Gerard Howlin

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries; for heavy ones they cannot - Niccolo Machiavelli.

The hallmark of betrayal is not immorality, it is its timing and efficiency. If it succeeds, it may become patriotism. The end justifies the means. Two exhibitions of the febrile no-man’s-land between patriotism and treachery, between success and failure, opened last week.