Ahern must untangle confusing web

WHEN is a debate not a debate? When it takes place in Dáil Éireann.

Charade would be a better word to describe Government arrangements for today’s parliamentary discussion on the Flood report’s exposé of corruption in high places.

Effectively, by ensuring that a series of anodyne statements will be read into the Dáil record, the Coalition has ruled out the cut-and-thrust of lively debate hoped for by most people in order to flush out new information about the circumstances surrounding the appointment of disgraced ex-minister Ray Burke to Cabinet by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.