What Bertie Should’a Done

We’re now in week three of what has been, very unimaginably but almost inevitably, titled “Bertiegate”. Wagger wonders what scandals were called before Nixon sent his men into that hotel.

Is there a way An Taoiseach could have avoided all this trouble for himself?

A bit of basic crisis management would have gone a long way, Wagger thinks.

Crisis management theory would suggest that Mr Ahern’s first step should have been to appear to surrender. Once he was confronted by the leaks in The Irish Times, he should have put his hands up and made the “apology” (Wagger believes the Opposition, including their Irish Times colleagues, are contesting whether or not it was an apology for the act of taking money) immediately: “In hindsight, I shouldn’t have taken the money. It was wrong, and I have now repaid that loan. I apologise for the confusion my actions have caused and I regret taking the three payments. If presented with the same situation again, I would choose a different path.”

Contrition, apology and regret. A promise to act differently in future. The whole issue would have died a death within a day or two. By now, the news of the increasing Budget surplus for 2006 and the pre-budget negotiations for 2007 would be centre stage. The public would have moved on. Michael McDowell would have been saved his blushes.

One wonders who was giving Mr Ahern his advice on the PR for this affair.  Was it his own press advisor, the Government press advisor or perhaps Shrum, Devine & Donilon, Fianna Fáil’s US consultants for the next election? Or, perhaps, and it seems quite possible given the irritable way in which he has dealt with the whole affair, the Taoiseach was running things himself and ignoring the advice of those closest to him.

Regardless, whoever was in charge needs a crash course in crisis management.