If Peter Mandelson had been an Irish politician, he'd be in office still. And, if some of Ireland's leaders of the last 20 years had held office in Britain, they'd be due for release any day now.
When Tony Blair said Mandelson was bigger than his critics, he was talking about the querulous William Hague and his Conservative colleagues. Sadly, the contrast with some members of Fianna Fail is even sharper.
Mandelson resigned because he'd been - not for the first time - economical with the truth and, as a result, played a part in misleading parliament. In this country of the cute hoor, misleading the Dail or Seanad is considered little more than a minor stroke. When a taoiseach or minister is found to have misled the Oireachtas, it's viewed - and excused - as a minor stroke that went wrong.
Mandelson's offence began with an attempt to ensure that a passport was issued to a wealthy Labour supporter and would-be investor in London's Millennium Dome. Here, Des O'Malley has estimated that up to half of the 150 or so naturalisations and passports issued under similar schemes were given to "unsuitable and improper people" who hadn't "fulfilled the necessary conditions".
Their passports-for-investment scheme, our passports-for-sale scandal. Citizens Masri, Mahfouz and Kozeny were, briefly, household names. Funds changed hands: some applicants were invited to come to the aid of the party by making a (voluntary) donation to Fianna Fail. There were no resignations. And the section of the 1956 Citizenship Act under which the scheme operated is part of yet another Bill now before the Dail.
But FF leaders will pay more attention this weekend to their poll ratings than to the contrast between their responses to allegations of sleaze and Mandelson's. The ratings in the latest Irish Times/MRBI poll reflect a resounding recovery in satisfaction with the Government and in the popularity of Bertie Ahern and Mary Harney.
That the recovery should be built on the Budget is hardly surprising. What respondents might have made of the European Commission's reservations or of Charlie McCreevy's dismissive response we can only guess: the poll was taken before the Commission's views were published. McCreevy's reply barely interrupted a steady flow of self-congratulation, without as much as a nod in the direction of the EU's contribution to Ireland's prosperity or the need for allies if and when the State's long-term interests are at stake.
But then FF has never fitted comfortably into any European alliance as its membership of the unsettled right-wing Europe of the Nations group indicates. And long-term thinking finds no place in the party's pragmatic stock-in-trade. At home, cooler members of the Government will have spotted that satisfaction with the Coalition and its leaders, encouraging as it is, does not run to voting intentions.
Even allowing for the popularity of the Budget, which produced a rise of four points since September, Fianna Fail's core support stands one point below its first-preference vote of 39.2 per cent in the last general election. And that was the party's poorest performance in 70 years.
There are two other significant findings. The first is the list of issues which, respondents say, will influence the way they vote in the next election. The second takes us back to sleaze, the Lawlor affair and the Government's reaction to it.
Some commentators and politicians said yesterday they were surprised by the Coalition's satisfaction rating and the popularity of its leaders in the light of scandals being aired at the Flood and Moriarty tribunals and the Liam Lawlor affair.
But the electorate is deeply suspicious of Lawlor and his erstwhile colleagues in the Government: almost two-thirds are satisfied with the handling of the case by the Flood tribunal and the courts; more than half are dissatisfied with the Government's response to it; and 85 per cent say Lawlor should resign from the Dail.
This gives the lie to the assumption that, when it comes to practical politics, scandals in public life don't matter. The drop in FF support in September was attributed to the O'Flaherty affair, a point made by the by-election in Tipperary South.
Continuing suspicion prevents satisfaction being converted to votes now.
The determining factor in this week's results was undoubtedly the Budget. And the list of issues which will influence voters included the economy, prices and taxation. But it began, as usual, with health; and housing and homelessness were high on the list.
The opposition parties - Fine Gael in particular - have clearly failed to convince the electorate of Fianna Fail's responsibility for the corrosive suspicion of politics and politicians which is in danger of damaging public life beyond repair.
The Opposition parties have failed to convince the electorate of their ability to provide an alternative government to a Coalition whose short-sighted policies have produced a society which is neither at ease with itself nor sure of its direction. These are not just the consequences of a failure of leadership by John Bruton; they reflect a pervasive timidity and a lack of conviction in the parties themselves.
dwalsh@irish-times.ie