Eoghan Harris, Sunday Independent columnist and die-hard defender of all things Bertie, has just been announced as one of an Taoiseach’s eleven nominees to an Seanad.
Having originally savaged Ahern for his failure to promise stamp duty reform in the run up to the election, Harris became a convert of the Church of Bertie shortly before polling day and spent the following weeks attacking anyone who said anything bad about an Taoiseach; including newspapers who reported facts that could have been seen as negative to him.
This was showcased with great style during his post-election rant on The Last Word, where he tried to attack The Irish Times for reporting news. He said then that his newspaper attacked Ahern until it “got what it wanted” and after that it toed the line and turned into a Fianna Fáil cheerleader.
Harris was also a passionate defender of Ahern on a pre-election debate on The Late Late Show, as well as in his weekly columns.
It now seems as though Harris has gotten his reward for playing nice and will enjoy a more than reasonable salary as a Senator. Ahern, the most cunning and devious of them all, has also managed to secure five years of favourable column inches from the Sunday Independent; although that probably wasn’t in doubt anyway.