Fast forward to the present day and another enormous political controversy . . . the Taoiseach of the day admitting taking money from friends and businessmen. Every bit as damaging surely as an outburst, however ill-judged, by a defence minister against the president? Eh, no.

Not only has Bertie Ahern not been damaged by the whole affair but, according to today's Sunday Tribune/Millward Brown IMS poll, he and his party are in a far stronger position than they were a month ago.

Despite a majority believing that Bertie Ahern was in the wrong, it is Enda Kenny that has been damaged . . .

perhaps irrevocably so . . . by the fall-out.

Unquestionably, some of these genuinely staggering results are down to Ahern's personal popularity. But it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the differing public reactions to the two controversies are a symptom of how Ireland has changed in three decades.

Although 1976 was nowhere near as bleak as the dark days of the 1980s, Ireland was at the time a relatively unprosperous and insular country, where foreign holidays were regarded as a luxury affordable to only a few and the vast majority of people tuned into just one television station. Possibly because there were fewer distractions . . . and certainly because the scandals involving senior politicians and corruption were yet to emerge . . . people took politics and politicians a lot more seriously. That is in stark contrast to contemporary Ireland, where politics is, at best, a sideshow that some people completely ignore and many dip in and out of with decreasing regularity.

There is clearly enormous cynicism towards politicians . . . fuelled by the scandals of recent years . . . but it is more than that. As we have become more wealthy, more materialistic, more consumer-driven, politics has simply ceased to matter to many people. It is always amusing to hear a politician in the Dail declaring that the nation is outraged or gripped by a certain issue.

The reality usually is that the nation is gripped by what's happening on Coronation Street or Pop Idol, the latest result of the Irish football team or whatever dress Mischa Barton, Liz Hurley or even Jade Goody is wearing.

It would be wrong to say that political issues are never discussed. Of course they are. Bertiegate was being debated the length and breadth of the country;

Ryanair's bid for Aer Lingus has grabbed the public imagination. But it is happening less and less and the public now tires of an issue much more quickly. Undeniably, many people see what is happening in Dail Eireann as less relevant to their lives than what is going on in the Big Brother house.

People still do get angry about issues but it only tends to last when they are issues that affect them personally, such as A&E. There was huge public outrage at the government's attempt in the summer of 2000 to appoint Hugh O'Flaherty to the European Investment Bank but unlike in 1976/77, the public anger didn't last. Mary Harney got hammered at the time for saying that, in three or four months' time, the controversy will not be remembered, but she was proved to be entirely correct. Far from "waiting in the long grass" until the next election . . . as many were predicting at the height of the crisis in 2000 . . . the electorate was too busy getting on with life.

It is tempting to lament how, rather than witnessing the inexorable rise of Sinn Fein, it is Me Fein that is now the dominant ideology. But any temptation to chastise the electorate for its indifference should be strongly resisted . . . the first rule of politics is: the voters are always right, even when they're wrong. Back in 1992, the PDs were rewarded with a big increase in seats in the ensuing general election for pulling out of government with Fianna Fail.

Nowadays the electorate's default position is always 'no general election' regardless of how serious a crisis the government is facing. Self interest naturally dictates the public wants the government to do a decent job running the country, but less and less is it interested in the detail of how it does that.

That isn't a thundering disgrace, it's just the new apolitical reality.