And Bertie is no less culpable, in spite of the charm offensive & the reassurances that he was – and is – an honest man.

Like Brutus.

But “A man may smile and be a villain”…

He may be bad history and it must be tempting to pass off the Ahern Stewardship as an unfortunate misjudgment, but this fallible person aspires to high office in Europe.

That he is no worse than, say, Giulio Andreotti or Bettino Craxi, both totally corrupt – or indeed, the late unlamented Don Charleone – is irrelevant.

Charlie got away because of the honesty of Mary Harney, but an example is required – to reassure the people of Ireland – who pay all their bills – and then some – that politicians must not prosper by corruption.

Therefore he must take the consequences and do chokey.

I was expecting bets to be used as an excuse. Thing is why did he not say that in the first place. People would have not minded and said well done.

2 reasons I can think of
1. he didn;t win at races.
2. He had a problem

Gordon