Should Ray Burke stand down as Minister for Foreign Affairs, or at least resign from his post as leader of this State's delegation to the Northern talks, until his name is cleared?
The Taoiseach argues that it would be quite unjust to ask him to resign. This is an honourable stance. We live in a democracy where one of the most fundamental civil rights is that each of us should be considered innocent until proven guilty. But against this Mr Ahern must know that there are compelling arguments for assigning Mr Burke's duties in relation to the peace process to another Minister.
This is not a case of a shop assistant suspected of having had his fingers in the till nor, to bring the metaphor closer to home, of a journalist accused of fiddling expenses. Next Tuesday this State will enter into substantive negotiations at Stormont which, if they can become truly inclusive, will be the most important since Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith travelled to London in l921. The challenge is to succeed, where Collins and Griffith failed, in hammering out a settlement which removes for ever from this island the threat of violence and civil war.
Writing in this space six weeks ago, I urged Mr Ahern to heed the words of W.T. Cosgrave in relation to those earlier negotiations, that we must put our "best players" into the game. Whatever his political skills and his ability to finesse a difficult situation, Ray Burke cannot at present be considered one of our best players. His understandable preoccupation with clearing his name means he is in no position to concentrate on the task in hand. Those who have observed him in recent weeks have commented that he appears stressed and hesitant when making important speeches.
There is another point, one that has already been made by watchful media in the North. It is important that the Government should be represented at these talks by delegates who command respect, though not necessarily the respect of the other parties. An opinion poll published yesterday showed that 79 per cent of voters in this State did not find Mr Burke's Dail statement explaining how he had received £30,000 in cash "believable".
Do we seriously expect the British government and the unionists to feel confident dealing with an Irish Minister who cannot convince his own fellow-citizens that he is telling the truth?
Both governments are basking in the success of what has been achieved in the past few months. After the bitter years of violence, the disappointments and the wrangling over procedures this is reasonable enough. But there is a danger in all this euphoria, that we will begin to believe that all that is needed to secure peace in Northern Ireland now is some civilised debate ending in agreement to dot the i's and cross the t's.
This has been particularly evident in the self-congratulation at the British Labour Party conference this week. The Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, gave it as her considered view that she saw no reason why we shouldn't have a settlement in place by Christmas. Where, one wonders, does this leave those who gathered in the Ulster Hall last Monday night to pray for deliverance from "the powers of darkness" and who roared their agreement when David Trimble was described as a "yellow-bellied Lundy"?
Nobody would wish to rain on Mo Mowlam's parade, but it is important to emphasise that these talks, for all the wishful thinking, are not "inclusive". A sizeable portion of the unionist community, the close to 40 per cent who cast their votes for the Rev Ian Paisley and Bob McCartney's UK Unionist Party, are not there. Unless they are brought into the process, it is difficult to see how David Trimble and his supporters will be able to remain involved for the long haul.
It used to be argued by the Government of this State that any negotiations which did not include Sinn Fein would not be worth "a penny candle". Yet now we have a situation where both governments seem prepared to argue that it is politically acceptable to negotiate a settlement without Dr Paisley and the people he represents.
British ministers come on television, of course, and say they want to see both the DUP leader and Mr McCartney take their place at the talks. They forget that they used to say the same things about Sinn Fein, but it wasn't until Tony Blair took the steps necessary to bring the whole republican movement in from the political wilderness that progress was made.
By contrast, it seems that no confidence-building measures are to be offered to those unionists who fear and mistrust the whole talks process. Dr Mowlam appears to have rejected proposals from the DUP leader for some form of parallel talks, though these might strengthen the hand of Peter Robinson, who is said to favour returning to the negotiating table.
What has all this got to do with Ray Burke and this Government's approach to the Northern talks? The received wisdom is that it is the task of this State to secure the long-term interests of the nationalist minority in any negotiations. But this can only be done if the unionists are willing partners in the enterprise.
To that end, it is crucially important that steps be taken to bring those parties, particularly Dr Paisley, who are currently boycotting the talks, back into the process. That, after all, was achieved with Sinn Fein in much more difficult circumstances. If the British government either cannot or will not move in the direction of Dr Paisley and his supporters, then it is in the interests of everybody on this island that the Government of this State should look more closely at what steps Irish nationalism might take to achieve the same ends.
In the past, the political dynamism and imagination which drove the peace process came from this State. That isn't the case at the moment. Instead, there is a sense of drift in the Fianna Fail/PD Coalition's handling of Northern policy.
There are small steps that could be taken to build bridges to the unionist community, or at least to reduce its sense of apprehension about its long-term future. Instead, it has sometimes seemed little or no account is taken of how decisions made in Dublin will impinge on the attitudes of both political communities in the North.
What is needed now is that somebody should be appointed by the Taoiseach to supervise all aspects of the Government's relationships with parties in the North. Ray Burke is not the best person for this job and should be replaced, sooner rather than later.