wrote a weekly column for The Irish Times, but resigned because of the upcoming general election. In May 2008, he was appointed by the government of Brian Cowen as Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works and Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism with special responsibility for the Arts. In January 2009, he offered to quit his junior ministry post to save money and called on people to retain their Celtic Tiger style optimism and self-respect. He said: "We're not going to get anywhere by completely throwing overboard our self respect. We have achieved a tremendous amount in the past 20 years – they were the best 20 years in our history. There will be cycles – we rose very high and we are where we are now. We have to work our way out of this intelligently". However, he was re-appointed to his positions when Cowen reduced the number of junior ministers from 20 to 15. He lost his seat at the 2011 general election. He is vice-chair of the government's Expert Advisory Group on the Decade of Centenaries. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in May 2018. He has been a frequent contributor to The Irish Catholic. Media image Mansergh has been a strong supporter of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, whose financial affairs were investigated by the Mahon Tribunal. He has been accused by some commentators of being insulting, condescending and petulant to opposition politicians. In February 2008, on the RTÉ Radio 1 show Morning Ireland, Mansergh insisted that Ahern's difficulties were no more than a spot of "inflight turbulence," with a safe landing in sight. When Fine Gael's tribunal expert, Senator Eugene Regan dissented, Mansergh became quite agitated, questioning why Regan wanted to question Ahern's finances declaring to Regan that: "You should have respect for your betters!" Mansergh is mentioned by name in the TV series, Charlie, where Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, in a conversation with Fr Alec Reid, places him in charge of drawing up a roadmap to peace in Northern Ireland. Honours and awards Along with Fr Alec Reid and the Reverend Roy Magee, he was awarded the 1995 Tipperary International Peace Award, now described as "Ireland's outstanding award for humanitarian work". Carlow College awarded its inaugural St. Columbanus Medal in November 2018, to Mansergh, in recognition