Political pragmatism always underlines the choice of the Taoiseach's nominees to the second house. Only the most naive would not expect the leader of the newly elected government of the day to reward at least some friends and allies for loyalty and hard work within the 11 names that lie at his discretion But such pragmatism, when carried to the extent that Bertie Ahern has in his choice announced last Friday, also undermines the office. Two of his nominees particularly, Ivor Callely and John Ellis, are not just failed politicians, but former politicians who in different ways have failed to maintain the high standards that the privilege of public office entails.

Their appointments to the Seanad are all the more ironic because the difficulties they found themselves in as TDs involved payments and loans from friends and strangers . . . something Bertie Ahern himself is very familiar with.

John Ellis, now a very wealthy landowner and businessman, lost the Dail seat he had held for 10 years amid a campaign against him by farmers in his Leitrim heartland. They complained that debts owed by a company Ellis and his brothers set up in the 1980s had not been repaid, leaving many farmers struggling while Ellis himself thrived.

Ellis, in his business capacity, is on record as having debts of �243,000 written off by the National Irish Bank. He also admitted to the Moriarty Tribunal that Charles Haughey gave him �26,000 in cash from the Fianna Fail Leader's Allowance Fund to pay off debts he personally owed to marts in order to avert a bankruptcy action. Bankruptcy would have meant he had to forfeit his Dail seat.

The Taoiseach has now given a seat in the Seanad to the man that Leitrim people . . . very vociferously and specifically . . . campaigned against as their Dail representative.

Ivor Callely's name is equally bizarre. The former Dublin North Central TD resigned his junior transport ministry in December 2005 . . . at the behest of Bertie Ahern . . . because he compromised himself when he admitted he had his house decorated on the cheap. That protracted resignation annoyed many party colleagues . . . and particularly the heir apparent to the Fianna Fail leadership, Brian Cowen, because Callely's Budget Day resignation distracted everyone from the goodies of a giveway financial package.

Voters in Dublin North Central also rejected Callely in the election but the Taoiseach, it now seems, feels he has spent long enough in the political wilderness for ethical transgressions that amounted to little more . . . and possibly less . . . in terms of gifts from strangers and loans from friends than Bertie Ahern has committed himself.

The other nominees include those chosen by the Greens and PDs as part of their coalition deal and Fianna Fail councillors who the party hopes will make it big in the coming election . . . all grist to the political mill.

There is, of course, the big name of Eoghan Harris, the Sunday Independent commentator and political pundit whose paean in praise of the Taoiseach on the Late Late Show during the election campaign is widely credited with turning the intially reluctant tide towards a Fianna Fail victory.

Bertie Ahern, for reasons best known to himself, has decided to say a big thank you to some very strange political names among the coterie of senators who were at his sole discretion (Green and PD senators excepted).

He could have chosen people whose track record for hard work, intellect, contribution to our society and sheer imagination might have transformed the level of debate in the Seanad.

Sadly, we must conclude that for Bertie Ahern the Seanad is nothing more than a sinecure for friends who need to be rewarded. An arm of parliament that he is now arrogant enough, in his third and final term in office, to think he can use for his own grace and favour.

Thank you, Taoiseach, but no thanks.