Back from a short break from the blog after a weekend in Berlin: A truly great city, easy to navigate with an excellent U-Bahn & S-Bahn system, and with a laid-back ambience that seems at odds with the white-knuckled atmosphere that sometimes seems to choke Dublin. (Monday-morning rushhour in the German capital seemed positively somnolent in comparison with the congested hysteria of my home-town commute).Of course, Berlin has a few problems. It’s officially bankrupt, the unemployment rate hovers at around 17%, and even the popular mayor (who, in an echt Berliner move, asked his boyfriend up onto stage to celebrate his recent election victory) seems bereft of significant ideas about how to revive the city’s economy. (See the Economist’s report for more) Yet the question remains: why does a bankrupt Berlin seem more liveable than a booming Dublin? Well, one answer was on offer in the Irish papers on my return. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, a man who seems to illustrate the gap between politician and statesman, has so far refused to counter the accusations that he received between �50,000 and �100,000 in the early 1990s (while he was serving as Minister for Finance). In a brazen (and futile) attempt to stifle the story, Bertie laughably told reporters “he could not be expected to reveal ‘what I got for my holy communion money, my confirmation money, what I got for my birthday, what I got for anything else’.”Ahern is expected to make a comprehensive statement about the accusations today. However, unless he announces that he didn’t actually receive the alleged monies than there is no question that he should step down. Assuming that Ahern will not make such a statement, an observer is compelled to conclude that yet another generation of Irish politicians has been totally discredited. This latest scandal once again highlights the disconnect between a nation that has shed its inferiority complex and a political class that is either too inept or too corrupt to govern effectively. The gombeen mentality means that connections trump qualifications, clientalism beats good administration, and money wins over all. With such a venal ruling class, it’s not a surprise that public services and infrastructure here are so ramshackle, but that they in such relatively good condition.And yet . . . if Bertie somehow wriggles out of this imbroglio, he could win the next election. Such are the advantages of shamelessness in Irish politics.