Had I been Bertie Ahern I would not have appointed Ray Burke to Government. On the face of it, that may seem a harsh thing to say. After all, Ray Burke is a man of considerable ability, which he has demonstrated in several ministerial posts. But politics is a tough business, in which there is little room for sentiment. And by appointing as Minister, and above all as Minister for Foreign Affairs, someone whose activities in two distinct areas he had felt it necessary to investigate, the Taoiseach put at risk both himself and his new Government, and also, potentially, the external reputation of the country.
The fact that subsequently he felt it necessary to reopen these inquiries twice demonstrates the danger of making an appointment in such circumstances. And the danger was not confined to the new Taoiseach and his Government, for by thus putting Ray Burke in the spotlight, he increased the risk that his appointee would become the focus of further controversy.
But surely, it may be said, Bertie Ahern was only trying to be fair to a colleague by not punishing him because of unproven allegations against him? And is it wrong for a politician to try to be fair? Sadly, I'm afraid that the answer to this is sometimes yes. The first duty of a Taoiseach is to ensure stable and effective government in which the people can have trust and confidence. If the appointment of a politician as minister could ultimately put at risk the government thus being formed, then, however fairly or unfairly, the Taoiseach's duty to ensure stable government must outweigh all other considerations, including, if necessary, loyalty to colleagues.
ail are now trying to do, to impose upon a decision as to the wisdom of appointing a controversial figure to a Cabinet post the standards of proof required by a criminal trial is totally untenable. Prudence, not proof, is what is needed in Cabinbet-making.
At the time the Government was about to be formed I was struck by how wide was the concern about a possible Burke appointment, including among people who were supporters of the new Coalition and who were concerned that it be successful. At the time I hesitated to express any view on the matter in this column for I was aware that anything I wrote would be likely to be counterproductive. I confined myself to an unspecific comment on two key ministries, remarking that "Bertie Ahern's choice of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice may be crucial.
Not all the potential candidates for these posts have in the past demonstrated the cool head and diplomatic subtlety required at this time." Unspecific, but I cannot deny that the person I had in mind in making this comment was Ray Burke.
All that said, I must in fairness add that there are worse things a Taoiseach can be accused of than being too fair-minded, allowing his heart to rule his head. And I have to say also that I, like others, have a clear impression that since his appointment as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has set out to distance Fianna Fail from aspects of its past that have for long concerned many members of that party who are genuinely committed to the public interest.
However, the respect the Taoiseach had thus won, even from long-standing opponents of Fianna Fail, has been dented in the past few days by his disingenuous efforts to shift the blame for these events to the Opposition and, counterproductively it seems to me, to the media. I can understand why he was tempted to such a course of action; he was under pressure within his own party, especially when Ray Burke resigned not just from the Cabinet but also from the Dail.
But after last week's softening-up process by leaks from senior Fianna Fail sources and on-the-record statements by two junior Ministers preparing the way for Ray Burke's ministerial resignation, he was, I think, unconvincing, and mistaken when he attempted an about-turn in the Dail by seeking belatedly to justify the initial appointment.
The impact of all these events on public confidence at home in politics and politicians, as well as on the reputation of our country abroad, has been tragic, and totally unfair. Of some 1,250 people who have served as members of the Dail since we achieved independence, to my knowledge only a handful, less than a dozen, have ever been suspected, even by their political enemies, let alone been shown, to have engaged in financial misbehaviour.
This is an enviable record, well up with the best in the world. Yet now, just because a finger of suspicion has been pointed at several senior political figures, the great majority of the electorate seem to have deluded themselves into thinking that most of our politicians are corrupt. The damage to our political system is immense.
Looking back over recent decades one cannot help wondering could all this have been avoided, could this essentially very limited problem have been headed off at an early stage? Several factors have militated against the exposure of isolated evils within our political system. The first is the stringency of our libel laws in so far as they affect the behaviour of public figures; this has inhibited investigative journalism. And the second, it has to be said, has been the nature of Irish public opinion.
Even after these deplorable recent events it is clear from the reactions of people in North Tipperary that, at any rate in a rural area where well over 40 per cent of the male population is self-employed and thus largely outside the PAYE system, large-scale tax evasion is still not seen as a serious matter. And while it seems to be the case that other kinds of financial misbehaviour by politicians now evoke strong public reactions, I for one had a clear impression during my period in politics that to have raised the question of a politician's lifestyle being incommensurate with his known earnings would have been politically counterproductive.
I found that distressing, and dangerous. For it was all too probable that in this over-tolerant climate a few people would be tempted to see politics as a short cut to wealth rather than as the career of service that it has been for 99.9 per cent of our national politicians since the foundation of the State.
Even in my own party I once came across a case in point; two people associated with the building industry who attempted to secure influential positions within Fine Gael by rigging ballot papers. They got short shrift.
High though the cost has been, in terms of the blow to public confidence of the recent exposure of malpractices by a tiny minority of politicians, it is, I believe, better in the long run that this problem be fully exposed, so that an alert public opinion will in future give to the issue of integrity in public life the priority it deserves.