So, How Was It For You?

at

“Despite his [Bertie Ahern’s] defence of himself, however, the first episode of The Rise And Fall Of Fianna Fail didn’t do him any favours. The opening half was a breathless history of the party, a kind of Fianna Fail for Dummies, which finished up by interviewing some of the dummies.

Willie O’Dea, his moustache quivering like a cornered hamster, talked of his lack of trust of Charles Haughey. “I heard a lot of rumours”, he said, looking slightly amused by it all, although he didn’t tell us what they were.

Former TD Martin Mansergh described Haughey, the most corrupt politician in the history of the Republic of Ireland, as a “substitute father figure”.

Ahern wasn’t interviewed about Haughey (last night, anyway) but the programme did feature footage of him praising his immediate predecessor at his funeral and defending Ray Burke in the Dail.

It was passionate stuff on both occasions. It was impossible to avoid the view that Ahern only saw what he wanted to see, and that this lack of curiosity about people badly affected his judgement, of other people and of his own deeds.”

Last Night’s TV (Diarmuid Doyle, Irish Independent)

Watch: The Rise And Fall Of Fianna Fail (TV3)

Sponsored Link
Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie