It may be some consolation to Bertie Ahern that his UK
counterpart is feeling the heat from a disgruntled
electorate as much as he is.

The day after Ahern was booed loudly at the Irish-Russia soccer game at Lansdowne Road, booing caused Tony Blair to beat such a hasty retreat from the Highland Games in Scotland that he breached Royal protocol by walking ahead of the Queen. At least Bertie
doesn't have to worry about horrifying Royal courtiers, but he will no doubt understand what it's like to face an angry mob of voters.

For both men, their latest crises were precipitated by enquiries into the inner workingso (or non-workings in the Irish case) of government. The Hutton Inquiry in the UK into the circumstances surrounding the apparent suicide of weapons expert David Kelly has put New Labour's culture of spin firmly in the spotlight. Meanwhile, the resignation of Justice Laffoy from the
commission to investigate child abuse has brought this Government's commitment to dealing openly, honestly and fairly with the victims of such abuse equally into focus.

But for all the similarities between the two political crises, the differences are even more illuminating.

Within days of the discovery of David Kelly's body, Blair had announced a judicial inquiry and now, just eight weeks after that discovery, the Hutton Inquiry has already heard evidence from 62 witnesses - including Blair and defence minister Geoff Hoon - and released several hundred pages of previously unseen documents. The speed and efficiency of the Hutton Inquiry to date has done little to alleviate Blair's problems, neatly summed up by health minister John Reid in the aftermath of the Highland Games debacle: "Do I think we have a problem with trust?" he asked. "Yes, we do have a problem with trust."

Compare the sequence of events in the UK to attempts on this side of the Irish sea to investigate not the death of one man, but what appears to be widespread abuse of
children over a number of years. Given the nature of the issue and the extraordinary ability of perpetrators of such abuse - and those that seek to protect them - to deny any wrong-doing, it was always unlikely that
such an investigation would be trouble-free. But the resignation of Justice Laffoy raises a far more fundamental question in relation to the Government's handling of her attempts to uncover the facts. Does this Government actually want to deal with this issue or, as its cack-handed dealings with the Laffoy commission appear to show, would it prefer it were swept under the bed like a soiled tissue?

That Justice Laffoy's letter was not released to the public immediately is being described as a public relations disaster. It is perhaps a little more than that. An inability to spin in the manner of New Labour is not what is at the heart of the Government's current woes. But in all likelihood, and despite mounting
evidence from the other side of the Irish sea, spin will be put forward and no doubt tried as the solution to the resignation of Laffoy. Trust is neither here nor there: defending one's position regardless of previous ineptitude, refusing to deal with the issue at hand and assuming no one will notice are priorities over all others.

What both leaders might do well to remember is that the electorate is not quite as credulous as they would like to believe.

And in Bertie's case, good government involves at least some attempts at government in the first place.