The clocks went back an hour this morning. If you're reading the papers in bed and didn't know this, then you have an extra hour of snooze time. Go on, put the papers down… zzzzzz.

Last week, my clock went back 37 years when I came across a photo of my father, Ted, shaking hands with Eamon de Valera. Ted's back is to the Áras fireplace and Dev is pictured, from the waist up, seated before him. The old man was very proud of this picture as he was one of a select few invited to Dev's presidential 'farewell'. Whenever he caught one of my friends looking at it, he would say, straight-faced: "Ah yes, that's Dev down on his knees begging me to let him retire."

For years, I believed him. I was a preternaturally stupid child.

Ted wasn't a Dev fan, although his family had fought with him in 1916. He saw him as flawed, but he represented an heroic era of self-sacrifice. He deserved respect.

I remembered this when I read of a throwback to another era last week – one of self-entitlement. On Thursday, The Irish Times reported that Bertie Ahern was telling the Poles how to run their economy. Neck? Jockey's proverbials?

He told a Polish newspaper that he didn't feel responsible for the "banks' wrong policy". "We [he?] had believed that there would be buyers of properties forever..."

A few pages on in the paper, there was a story about a receiver's fire sale of 13 apartments across from Fagan's pub. I wonder how that developer felt about Bertie's 'admission'. Or his description of himself as "one of the parents" of the Celtic Tiger.

Ahernia then dropped the bombshell. He's thinking of making a "comeback" and "running in the presidential elections".

Every time I think Bertie has slunk off into distant memory he pops up again to infuriate me. In the same day's Evening Herald, the headline read: 'Bertie's Two Fingers (I'm keeping my Merc)'. Ahern was actually holding up four in the picture, which goes to show how good he is at counting.

Bertie is either taking the mick or he has completely lost the plot. I'm inclined to the latter view. He is the ultimate solipsist: he believes he is the centre of all things. His reality prevails over ours. "Why wouldn't I run for president? I've as good a chance as Norris? Why wouldn't I keep my Merc? State cars only cost the taxpayer €105,000pw. I spawned a Celtic Tiger."

Bertie's solipsistic philosophy is still ingrained on the system. On Wednesday at 2.30pm there were only 10 TDs out of 162 in the Dáil for the debate about our future. "Ah lads, the public will never notice."

Last October, I wrote that we should redefine the treachery laws to try him and the bankers as financial traitors. Brian Lenihan had said that he was determined to punish those who had undermined the state. A year on and he is saying the same thing.

If he is serious about dealing with economic wrongdoers, he should look to the Treason Act of 1939. This defines treachery in terms of warfare, but could be amended to punish those who, through financial mismanagement, threaten the state's survival. Its sovereignty has been jeopardised by Bertie's mismanagement. Why shouldn't he be punished?

Bertie, of course, will never see himself as a traitor. He is also unable to accept that the Áras is no longer a reward for failed politicians. Mary Robinson changed all that when she was elected president in 1990.

She was more a parent of our Golden Age/Celtic Tiger than Bertie ever was. He inflated a bubble and said it was a toy balloon for us to play with. Robinson, on the other hand, gently inflated our self-esteem. She led us forward by meeting the queen at Buck House. She called out to the diaspora and the women of Ireland. She stood against the dark, extremist forces of conservative Ireland. Her later work with the UN made for lump-in-throat moments. The admiration she won gave us a new national pride.

She was our first 'protest vote' president. When we chose her, we were rebelling against the ancient regime that Bertie rose up in.

The next presidential election is going to be the most important one in years. We must choose carefully. We will need a figure-head, like Robbo and Mary Mac, to showcase us around the world. To let everyone know the lights have not gone out in Ireland during these new Dark Ages. Bertie can never fulfil this role. He is cheap, tacky, untrustworthy and ignorant of our feelings.

I do want to see him run for the presidency, though. Just to watch him get trounced. The shock of being exposed to public humiliation might be enough to send him crawling back into his cupboard.

The clock went back today, but it's never going back to before the pre-Robinson era, Bertie. The Phoenix Park will never be your Phoenix 'Perk'.

dkenny@tribune.ie