The immortal words of Bertie Ahern –

“If I ever for a moment had thought that by signing a cheque, which was a practice that everybody did in the country, let’s be very frank and honest about it and not be prudish about it, I would have never signed them,”

This is a statement by the leader of our government!

This is a man who handed blank cheques to Haughey – a man so low he would steal off anybody, including his “best friend”.

For a start, let’s remove the extraneous gabble. The sentence boils down to –

“If I ever for a moment had thought that by signing a cheque, I would have never signed them,”

Now, what in the name of all that is holy does THAT mean? This is classic Bertie speak.

And what about the other bits?

Everybody in the country wrote blank cheques? Everybody?

What kind of mindless statement is that? Can someone really be so naiive? Either he was totally brainless, or he knew exactly what was going on.

He then tries to wriggle out of it by saying that we are being “prudish” for enquiring about it.

Fianna Fail under Haughey was just about as corrupt as a government can get. Haughey was a man who would organise a collection for his “best friend” who was dying of cancer, and then keep the proceeds for himself. This is about as corrupt as anyone can get. Haughey, Burke and the others were ripping off the country wholesale, to the tune of millions. And Bertie was in the thick of it. He can claim he knew nothing about it.

Bertie could stand in the middle of New Orleans at the height of Hurricane Caitriona and claim he was not aware that it was raining?

The worst of them are gone now; dead or in jail. But Bertie is a legacy of those days. He is badly tainted.

Bertie worked in the pigsty for a long time, and he still reeks of pigsh*t.