Inside Politics/Stephen Collins: The Taoiseach's bungled ministerial reshuffle continued to dominate the headlines this week.
His political machinations contrasted sharply with the other major political story of recent days, which was the raw courage of Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey, who took on all-comers, including many in his own party, to vindicate the public interest.
The astonishing thing about the ministerial saga was the manner in which Mr Ahern put his Government under unnecessary pressure over a trivial issue.
Whether this was a result of indecision or deviousness nobody is quite sure, but it amounted to an unforced error which raised questions about the competence of the leader of the Government.
Mr Dempsey, on the other hand, exposed the ineptitude of the main Opposition parties by taking a clear and consistent line on an issue of national importance.
He defied powerful vested interests, a significant element of his own party and the hysterical opportunism of Fine Gael and Labour in an effort to preserve the country's fish stocks, safeguard the long-term interests of coastal communities and protect the taxpayer from having to pay substantial fines to the EU.
The soap opera over the junior Ministers returned to centre stage just when everybody in Fianna Fáil was beginning to breathe easier in the belief that the show was over.
Síle de Valera resurrected it as a farce by revealing that she had an agreement with Bertie Ahern dating back to last November that she would step down from her post at the end of this year.
Why the Taoiseach and Ms de Valera both decided to keep this important detail secret, in the face of continued speculation about her future, is a mystery known only to the two involved.
Its disclosure was hardly welcome news for Mr Ahern, but Ms de Valera insisted that she wanted to go public. The Taoiseach had little to say except that he did not dispute her statement.
What the next episode will be is anybody's guess. Mr Ahern has to juggle the demands of the granddaughter of the first leader of Fianna Fáil, Eamon de Valera, and the grandson of the second, Seán Lemass, to come up with a solution that will keep most of his party happy.
If the final act drags out until December it will inevitably be a distraction from more important political issues, but maybe that is the Taoiseach's plan.
One important event that was overshadowed in the past week was the passing of the Sea Fisheries and Marine Jurisdiction Bill by the Dáil.
This Bill was actually withdrawn last November, following a Fianna Fáil backbench revolt and trenchant condemnation from Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin. It was only put back on the agenda due to the stubbornness of Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey.
He had to resist huge pressure from inside Fianna Fáil before getting the Bill back on the Government's legislative programme, and then had to endure repeated efforts to derail the measure.
Last Wednesday, before the Bill came into the Dáil for its final stage, the Minister had a meeting with Fianna Fáil backbenchers.
He had to withstand this last-ditch effort, which was not discouraged from on-high in the party, to get him to water down the provisions of the Bill so as to render them meaningless, but he refused to buckle.
In the debate Mr Dempsey wiped the floor with his opponents.
He had little difficulty disposing of the two main arguments: that illegal fishing could be dealt with by administrative fines and that the strong penalties in the Bill would criminalise fishermen.
He again pointed out that Irish law only allowed for small administrative fines, which would be no deterrent to those who were making millions of euro from illegal fishing, and that serious fines with the sanction of criminal law were required.
The Minister also disposed of the notion that honest fishermen would be criminalised by the legislation.
"Passing a law in this House does not criminalise anybody. It is only when one breaks the law that one becomes a criminal.
"I do not accept Deputy Ferris's contention that merely by passing a law we are making criminals of people. If that were the case we would all be criminals - murderers, robbers and rapists - because we have passed laws on all those matters.
"I do not accept that, just because we try to pass a law that will enable us to prosecute wrongdoers - if they exist and are caught - we are criminalising the fishing industry, including fishermen and fishing communities."
At one stage during the debate Mr Dempsey was challenged by Jim O'Keeffe of Fine Gael to produce a single TD from his own side to speak in support of the Bill. Green Party TD Eamon Ryan, immediately intervened to say: "I support the Minister."
When it came to the final vote, the Bill was passed by a whopping 79 votes to 49. The Greens and some Independents like Tony Gregory, Finian McGrath and Paddy McHugh supported the legislation, with Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin opposed.
As a reward for taking a risk and standing by the public interest, Mr Dempsey managed to have his Bill passed by an overwhelming majority. He also showed that the Fianna Fáil-PD coalition could be expanded to include the Greens and progressive Independents.
If it can be done on one piece of legislation it might be possible to repeat the formula, if required, when it comes to the formation of the next government.
The other side of the coin is that the debate showed the poverty of political imagination on the part of Fine Gael and Labour.
By fighting tooth and nail against a clearly appropriate law, the two parties ended up by effectively condoning criminality in the fishing industry.
In the process they called into question their fitness for office.