It wasn’t the past that did for Ahern but how he handled the present

BERTIE AHERN had lost the public.

Proof of that came during last Friday night’s Late Late Show.

Senator Eoghan Harris had made a passionate and highly articulate contribution to a debate about the Taoiseach’s suitability for office but, notably, it did not elicit a single ripple of applause from the audience. Instead, there were disbelieving laughs as Harris sought vainly to defend the Fianna Fáil leader. This was very telling and damning. It would not have happened before.