The Dáil talking point is not the judgement of Bertie but that of the Tánaiste, writes Stephen Collins
Bertie Ahern emerged from yesterday's Dáil debate with the coalition intact and his grip on office secure until the election.
Although he provided little new information, and expressed only carefully-qualified regret for what he termed "a misjudgement" all those years ago, he did not admit he was wrong.
For all its shortcomings, the statement was enough to keep the Progressive Democrats on side despite Michael McDowell's short-lived bout of sabre-rattling last week.
As the TDs began to stream out of the chamber long before the end of the Dáil debate, like football supporters who know shortly after half time that the match is over, the talking point was not the political judgement of the Taoiseach but that of the Tánaiste.
The Opposition vented their frustration at Mr Ahern's great escape by giving Mr McDowell a good kicking.
The Tánaiste had the dubious privilege of enduring the spectacle of Pat Rabbitte shedding copious crocodile tears for his party, while Fianna Fáil TDs rowed in to vocally defend their junior coalition partner from the Labour leader.
In conversations in the corridors afterwards there was some relief and amusement in Fianna Fáil that the PDs had ended up taking the brunt of the criticism.
Although the coalition has survived, both Government parties have suffered as yet unquantifiable damage from the controversy.
Not even the most vocal backers of the Taoiseach in Fianna Fáil would argue that the party is now in a stronger position than in was two weeks ago, while the heady start of the new PD leader now seems like a distant memory.
The Government parties had planned to use the first few weeks of the new Dáil term to make a determined comeback on the key issues of the economy and political stability. Instead, they have been forced on to the back foot on an issue that has the capacity to have a negative influence on both of them in the next election.
For the Opposition there was some disappointment that they did not land any significant blows yesterday.
Their demands for an even longer debate than the one that eventually took place began to look a bit foolish as the Taoiseach grew ever-stronger as the debate wore on.
For all that, the controversy was still a godsend to them on the eve of the election campaign.
The bottom line was that the Taoiseach, in his carefully-crafted statement, endorsed the principle that a Minister can accept money from friends or strangers as long as he does so in a personal capacity and does not feel under any obligation to his benefactors. It is a proposition that effectively makes ethical guidelines redundant.
The key sentiments in Mr Ahern's statement came in the last two paragraphs which were misleadingly headlined in the script "Regret and Apology".
There were two crucial sentences. The first read: "If I had anticipated in 1993 and 1994 that my decision to accept loans from friends or the gift of monies in Manchester would cause such difficulties and media intrusion for my family and friends, and would give rise to distortion of my motives and misrepresentation of my conduct, I would not have accepted a penny."
In the next paragraph he conceded that to have accepted the money was "a misjudgement" but it was not in breach of any code or law. He concluded: "The bewilderment caused to the public about recent revelations has been deeply upsetting for me and others near and dear to me. To them and to the Irish people, I offer my apologies."
The Taoiseach was saying two things.
First, that he would not have taken the money if he knew the kind of political trouble it was going to get him into years later; not that it was wrong to have taken it.
Secondly, he apologised for the bewilderment caused to the public and the upset to his family, but he most certainly did not apologise for his behaviour.
The PD parliamentary party met after the debate and agreed without any serious dissent to back Mr Ahern: "Do the facts disclosed and the manner in which the Taoiseach has accounted publicly in relation to them render him unfit to continue to be Taoiseach? Our view on today's events is that Bertie Ahern is fit to continue as Taoiseach."
While there was a political logic to the attitude taken by the PDs it begs the question as to what the Tánaiste was up to last week. He blew hot and cold on successive days, and in the process he managed to confuse friends and enemies about his intentions. That, in itself, may have been no harm, but the manner in which he handled the controversy ultimately put him in the firing ling alongside Mr Ahern.
When he took over as leader of the PDs Mr McDowell declared his intention of wooing Fine Gael voters and followed this up with his proposals on the reduction of stamp duty. It was a clever strategy but its chances of working must have taken a knock after the events of the past few days.
The PDs have now been tied into Mr Ahern's definition of acceptable standards of behaviour in public life, and when it comes to election time that is unlikely to help them win over Fine Gael voters.
Mr McDowell will have to endure the taunt that his trip up the lamp post to unveil the "One-Party Government. No Thanks" poster has ended up with him endorsing the most unacceptable side of one-party government.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny last night waded into both Government parties. "The Taoiseach and his Government have lost their moral authority to govern the country. His persistent refusal to accept that his actions in accepting €61,000 was wrong is simply incredible. By this action the Taoiseach, his Ministers and his partners in Government, the PDs, have accepted standards in public life that diminish us as a people."
This is the heart of the matter for the political parties and for the electorate. Bertie Ahern's personal popularity has enabled him to escape from a political mess that would have finished the career of another politician but the issue involved will not go away.
How the Opposition responds to it in the weeks ahead will have a critical impact on how the voters ultimately respond.