Caution and cunning are important qualities of political leadership. And the Taoiseach is well-endowed in both departments. But he has failed to prove himself in terms of courage, standards and vision.

In cases of alleged political sleaze and corruption, Bertie Ahern has led from behind, using public opinion and opposition pressure as a shield. His responses have been both late and limited in connection with the McCracken investigation; in devising the Moriarty Tribunal's terms of reference and in providing for a new judicial inquiry into planning matters affecting his Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ray Burke.

In spite of all that, Mr Ahern has managed to present his reluctant responses to evidence and allegations of improper behaviour by Charles Haughey and Mr Burke in a crusading light. He is a new Fianna Fail broom dealing as best he can with residue from the past.

Last April, facing into a general election, and with reports of Mr Haughey having received £1.1 million from Ben Dunne in general circulation, Mr Ahern made a virtue of his difficulties. Without naming Mr Haughey, he told the Fianna Fail Ardfheis there was "no place in our party today for that kind of past behaviour". But he carefully distinguished between "personal gifts" and "contributions for political purposes".

His aspiration to higher ethical standards went down well. For the past number of years, Fianna Fail has been trying to shake off the image of a shady past. Something Sean Duignan once encapsulated in an observation that, when the muck hits the fan, the first question past a Fianna Fail man's lips is: "Did we do it?"

Warming to the new approach, Mr Ahern declared: "What matters most is how a political party reacts to knowledge when it becomes available."

On that criterion, the Taoiseach has shown little appetite for remedial action, but plenty of determination to protect his Government and to safeguard his personal position.

Even though Mr Haughey was disgraced by the findings of the McCracken Tribunal, Mr Ahern's criticisms were cautiously measured. And he managed to avoid withdrawing his honorary membership of Fianna Fail. Strong initial resistance to the establishment of a new tribunal which would investigate Mr Haughey's financial affairs during his years as Taoiseach gave way to grudging acceptance under opposition pressure.

And the terms of reference involving a money trail were agreed only after the Tanaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats, Mary Harney, made an important intervention. Mr Haughey was being reluctantly presented as a burnt offering to the men with the long, keen faces.

There was hardly a murmur in Fianna Fail. It was just politics. Unfortunate treatment of a former mentor. But Mr Haughey was yesterday's man.

Then there was the problem with Albert Reynolds. Supporters of Mr Ahern deny he encouraged his predecessor to seek the presidential nomination, or that he campaigned against him in favour of Mary McAleese. It was, they insist, all in Albert's imagination.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the humiliating defeat of the former Taoiseach has caused a serious rift within the parliamentary party. The most potent weapon used against Mr Reynolds - that his nomination would trigger a damaging sleaze-attack on Fianna Fail because of the Masri passports affair and other issues during the election campaign - is now being turned against Mr Burke.

While Mr Ahern was able to put clear blue water between himself and a retired Mr Haughey when the illicit Dunnes Stores payments came tumbling out of the closet, his connections with Mr Burke have been far more intimate.

It's been two years since the Newry firm of Donnelly Neary and Donnelly advertised a reward of £10,000 for information leading to a prosecution for corrupt planning practices. Within months, Dublin was awash with allegations that £80,000 had been paid to Mr Burke on behalf of two construction companies in 1989. The bones of the charges appeared in newspapers, but no names were mentioned. Details of the allegations were sent to the Garda Sioch ana but, because James Gogarty declined to sign his statement on the grounds that he might incriminate himself, no progress was made.

During that period, Mr Burke served as Fianna Fail's spokesman on foreign affairs. And the reports must have been a source of considerable concern to Bertie Ahern. When the party leader was challenged on the matter during the recent general election campaign, he was well-prepared.

He had, Mr Ahern told journalists, gone to the individual concerned and satisfied himself that the allegations were without foundation.

Just how strong the whiff of sulphur was became evident last month when Mr Ahern told the Dail he had interviewed Mr Burke on four separate occasions, over a 17-month period, as allegations had continued to surface in one newspaper.

Then, as he considered the composition of his new Cabinet after the June election, Mr Ahern ran a last check. He sent the party's chief whip, Mr Dermot Ahern, to London to discuss the allegations with a representative of Joseph Murphy Structural Engineers (JMSE). And, the Taoiseach told the Dail, Mr Ahern had returned to say "there was no evidence the allegations were true. While the cash was paid, it had not been done in return for political or planning favours".

It was sufficient for the Taoiseach. There was no hard evidence. And so, to the great surprise of many members of the Fianna Fail party, Mr Burke was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Immediately, there was speculation that Mr Burke had a hold over Mr Ahern.

There were some up-front answers to that question. Mr Burke's record as an outspoken critic of the IRA would reassure unionists. And he was a solid Dail performer. But perhaps of greatest importance, Mr Burke would make an extremely dangerous enemy on the backbenches if he was denied a place in Cabinet. Mr Reynolds had discovered that to his cost.

In spite of those considerations, Mr Ahern's unwillingness to confront and to disappoint Mr Burke - and Mr Reynolds - must be judged as serious leadership weaknesses.

The inquiry into allegations against Mr Burke was deeply flawed. The charges came to light only because James Gogarty was in dispute with JMSE, his employers. JMSE was contacted. The other construction company concerned, Bovale Ltd, may also have been consulted. But nobody from Fianna Fail contacted Mr Gogarty - the fount of all the allegations that Mr Ahern found so disturbing. It was like ignoring Ben Dunne in the payment to politicians tribunal.

And when in July Mr Gogarty wrote to the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste offering to give evidence before the Moriarty Tribunal, his letter was ignored.

Mr Ahern explained this extraordinary omission to the Dail on the grounds that the letter "was considered in the light of the facts as then known to me and also in the light of the fact that Mr Gogarty had not signed a statement of complaint to the Garda. In those circumstances no action by me was warranted at the time".

It was of a piece with Fianna Fail's response to a demand by the opposition parties for a judicial inquiry into the Burke affair on September 1st. They were told it would be "inappropriate" because the matter was under investigation by the Garda. A Garda investigation that had bogged down more than a year earlier.

Everything changed last week when Magill magazine published a document which Michael Bailey of Bovale sent to JMSE offering to buy its 726 acres of land in Dublin or, alternatively, to "procure" planning permission for the plots in return for 50 per cent ownership.

The Progressive Democrats had had enough of the drip, drip, drip of allegations. And the word "procure" rang loud alarm bells. Repeated assurances that all was well, provided by Mr Ahern and by Mr Burke, had lost their currency with Ms Harney. The party's membership was seriously disturbed. She wanted something more.

Mr Ahern tried to stem the tide by promising to secure and to publish the full text of the Bovale letter, which changed hands three days before Mr Burke admitted receiving £30,000 in hard cash. And, on Friday of last week, he sent Noel Dempsey into the Department of the Environment to establish what councillors had voted on the controversial land and what had happened to it.

It was too little, too late. The defence went out the window when Ms Harney returned from London. A bruising, hour-long meeting with Mr Ahern left him in no doubt that a sworn inquiry was now essential if the Government was to survive. It could be done through the Moriarty Tribunal, as demanded by the opposition parties, or by way of a completely new tribunal.

Having consistently ruled out Moriarty as a vehicle for a Burke inquiry, Mr Ahern closed that door by laying a formal order for the tribunal's establishment before the Dail. As a result, he was in a position to say the terms of the Moriarty Tribunal could not be changed.

More trouble was on the way. Following publication of the Bovale letter, the Sunday Business Post carried a report suggesting Mr Burke had been made aware of the lands which required rezoning, at the same time as the money had changed hands.

The Taoiseach went on RTE radio and, for the first time, accepted that a new tribunal would be established to deal with the allegations against Mr Burke. All that remained was to decide the terms of reference.

The matter was complicated even further when the firm of Donnelly Neary and Donnelly wrote to the Taoiseach. It explained the company had received 52 complaints of planning corruption, many of which were frivolous, but that files in six cases had already been referred to the Garda. .

Just in case the message was lost on Fine Gael - and to show his personal determination to get at the truth - Mr Ahern publicly said that these matters should also go to the tribunal.

But that didn't stop Fianna Fail and the opposition parties fighting over the terms of reference.

A last-minute attempt by the Government to limit investigation to payments made "with intent to influence the planning process" drove the opposition parties into a fury. Given that "intent" could not be proved without investigation and that, by tradition, no favours are ever asked, or given, when sums of money grease political hands, the opposition parties wanted change.

The Government appeared willing to back down. All relevant matters would be investigated. Mr Ahern was quite prepared to take any necessary action involving a political colleague. And Mr Burke was willing to appear before the tribunal and give evidence.

There was the quiet sounds of trapdoor bolts being drawn and oiled at Leinster House.