Bertie Ahern
Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste and Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht from November 1994 to December 1994, Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1992 to 1994, Minister for Industry and Commerce in January 1993, Minister for Finance from 1991 to 1994, Minister for Labour from 1987 to 1991, Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of Defence from March 1982 to December 1982 and Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1986 to 1987. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011.
Bertie Ahern
Mary Robinson
John Bruton
John Bruton
John Bruton
- Mary O'Rourke
- Brian Cowen
Brian Cowen
Albert Reynolds
Dick Spring
Albert Reynolds
Brian Cowen
Albert Reynolds
Michael D. Higgins
Albert Reynolds
- Albert Reynolds
- Charles Haughey
Albert Reynolds
Ruairi Quinn
Fianna Fáil (1965–2012; since 2023)
- Georgina
- Cecelia
- Maurice Ahern (brother)
- Noel Ahern (brother)
In 1994, Ahern was elected the sixth Leader of Fianna Fáil. Under Ahern's leadership, Fianna Fáil led three coalition governments. Ahern is the second-longest serving Taoiseach, after Éamon de Valera. Ahern resigned as Taoiseach on 6 May 2008, in the wake of revelations made in Mahon Tribunal, and was succeeded by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen.[1] In 2012, the Mahon Tribunal found that Ahern, while not judged corrupt, had received money from developers and the Tribunal disbelieved his explanations of those payments. Fianna Fáil proposed to expel politicians censured by the tribunal for "conduct unbecoming", but Ahern resigned his membership prior to the expulsion motion being moved.[2]
In November 2016, Fianna Fáil announced that it had given Ahern the option of rejoining the party.[3] He rejoined in February 2023.[4]
Early life[edit]
Ahern was born in Drumcondra, Dublin, the youngest of five children of Con and Julia (née Hourihane) Ahern, both natives of County Cork, who married in October 1937. They settled at Church Avenue, Drumcondra, where they resided for the rest of their lives.[5] The other four children are Maurice, Kathleen, Noel and Eileen.[5] In Dublin, Ahern's father worked as a farm manager at All Hallows College, Drumcondra. Ahern's brother Noel is also involved in politics and represented Dublin North-West in Dáil Éireann.
Ahern's father Con was born into a farming family near Ballyfeard, which is located near Kinsale, County Cork, in 1904.[6] His mother also came from a farming background and was from near Castledonovan, west County Cork. Ahern's father, Con, initially left County Cork and went to Dublin in the early 1930s to train for the priesthood, but did not complete his studies with the Vincentian order.[5][6] He had fought in the Irish Civil War. He was a supporter of Éamon de Valera and the Anti-Treaty IRA.[6] He was a member of the 3rd Cork Brigade of the IRA.[5] He remained a militant Irish Republican for decades after the War of Independence. Con Ahern died in 1990. Ahern's mother, Julia, died in 1998, aged 87 years.[7][8]
Ahern was educated at St. Patrick's National School, Drumcondra and at St. Aidan's Christian Brothers, Whitehall.[9]
He received his third-level education at the College of Commerce, Rathmines, part of the Dublin Institute of Technology. Ahern has claimed or it has been claimed by others in circulated biographies that he was educated at University College Dublin and the London School of Economics, but neither university has any records that show Ahern was ever one of their students.[10] He subsequently worked in the Accounts Department of the Mater Hospital, Dublin.[11][12]
Ahern is an enthusiastic and vocal fan of sport. He is a supporter of Dublin GAA and attends Dublin matches in Croke Park.[13] He also supports Manchester United F.C. and attends matches at Old Trafford and rugby matches at Lansdowne Road. He appeared as a pundit on RTÉ Two's The Premiership programme in 2001.[14]
Leader of Fianna Fáil[edit]
Ahern succeeded Reynolds as the leader; the first unopposed candidate since Seán Lemass in 1959.[29] Ahern was elected as the sixth leader of Fianna Fáil on 19 December 1994.
Negotiations for a resumption of government with the Labour Party began immediately. It was expected that the coalition would be renewed, clearing the way for Ahern to become Taoiseach. However, due to revelations that Ahern knew more about an aspect of the scandal that toppled Reynolds than previously known, Labour withdrew from the coalition, opting instead to go into coalition with Fine Gael. Ahern found himself as Leader of the Opposition.
In the 1997 general election Fianna Fáil's campaign centred on Ahern's personal popularity. At the election, while Fianna Fáil picked up seats, its preferred coalition partner, the Progressive Democrats, lost more than half their seats. However, Labour suffered even heavier losses, leaving Fine Gael short of the support it needed to stay in office. Ahern quickly formed a coalition government with the Progressive Democrats, with the support of four Independent TDs. On 26 June 1997, aged 45, Ahern became the youngest Taoiseach since W. T. Cosgrave.
Retirement from politics[edit]
On 30 December 2010, in a speech to his party cumann in the Dublin Central constituency, he announced that he would not be contesting the 2011 general election.[153]
Ahern said he had made it clear as far back as 2002, that it was always his plan to step down as a TD before he was 60.
Asked if he had any regrets,[154] he said: "If I had seen the banking crisis coming. Nobody advised me, no economist, all those people now writing books saying 'I told you so' – none of them."
On Anglo Irish Bank, he said: "I can honestly say that not once did anyone or any delegation that came in to see me ever say, 'Watch out for Anglo' ... I wish they had have."
Referring to the "great economic storm" currently underway in Ireland, he warned against excessive pessimism: "Some gains have been lost, but in truth many remain. I dearly wish there was no crisis. I realise that it would have been better if some things had been done differently, but I will not denigrate the good that has been done."[155]
However an independent review of the operation of the Department of Finance during Ahern's tenure in government[156] and its performance over the course of a decade, by Canadian expert Rob Wright, revealed how repeated warnings to the government of the dangers of the budgetary policies pursued during the boom years were repeatedly ignored. Ahern declined to comment on the report.[154]
Shortly after announcing his retirement from politics, Ahern attacked his successor Brian Cowen, over Cowen's failure to communicate with the public and criticised the government's handling of the EU/IMF bailout. This attack broke the convention that former Taoisigh should not publicly criticise their successors.[157]
Ahern said in January 2011, there was no hope of Fianna Fáil retaining two seats in his Dublin Central constituency.[158] None of his party candidates were subsequently elected in his former constituency.
He receives annual pension payments of €152,331.[159]
Ahern said in April 2018 that he is considering running for President in 2025 as an independent candidate.[160]
In April 2018, he walked out of an interview with DW News after being questioned on the findings of the Mahon Tribunal.[161]
In October 2018, Ahern was appointed to chair the Bougainville Referendum Commission, which is responsible for preparing an independence referendum in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, which took place in December 2019.[162][163]
Personal life[edit]
Family[edit]
In 1972 Ahern met Miriam Kelly, a bank official who lived near the Aherns' family home. They were married in St. Columba's Church, Iona Road in 1975.[185] Ahern has two daughters from his marriage: Georgina and Cecelia. Georgina is married to the Westlife member Nicky Byrne.
Ahern and his wife separated in 1992. Until 2003, Ahern maintained a relationship with Celia Larkin. Ahern was the first, and is the only, Taoiseach to have a legal separation from his wife.[186]
Larkin was appointed to the board of the National Consumer Agency in July 2005, on the recommendation of the Department of the Taoiseach.
Ahern is an enthusiastic and vocal fan of sport. He is a supporter of Dublin GAA and attends inter-county matches in Croke Park.[13] He also supports English soccer outfit Manchester United Football Club and attends matches at Old Trafford, as well as Scottish soccer outfit Celtic Football Club and rugby matches at the Aviva Stadium. He appeared as a pundit on RTÉ Two's The Premiership programme in 2001.[14]
Religious faith[edit]
Ahern is a practising Roman Catholic. He attends Mass every[187] Saturday evening in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. However, he was publicly criticised by Cardinal Desmond Connell, then Archbishop of Dublin, for his public relationship with Larkin.
Ahern has said that he lives by the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes and his own conscience, and hopes to get to heaven when he dies. Speaking to Gay Byrne in RTÉ's The Meaning of Life series, Ahern described himself as a regular Mass-goer, but said he had not been to Confession for 40 years. In a lengthy interview, Ahern said that he and the former DUP leader Ian Paisley, bonded over their shared faith when they had their first formal meeting together. The meeting took place in January 2004, at the Irish Embassy in London. He recalled how Paisley began a prayer in the Irish Embassy and he joined in with him. He said the prayer was "like our Confiteor" and officials had wondered why they had spent so much time alone. The pair started discussing their values and the rules by which they lived. His government came under severe criticism for the deal they made with the religious orders, capping their contribution to the redress board at €128 million while taxpayers will have to pay out €1 billion.[188]
As a Catholic, Ahern said he wanted the church "to do well" but that it could not retreat behind canon law. "There was one time when the church tried to put up the defence of canon law and my colleagues just looked up to the sky and thought they were joking. Unfortunately, they weren't joking, they made bad decisions." Ahern said he was convinced that life "did not end at the graveyard" and he often prayed to dead relatives for guidance. He used Mass as an opportunity to pray for people in trouble and stayed off alcohol in November and at Lent. He rationalised inexplicable events, such as the death of a young person, by stating that God "cannot influence every single thing". He said he received a "fair amount of hate mail" about "living in sin", but it upset other people more than it did him and he admitted that he had not lived up to his parents' "stereotype" of married life.[188]
The following governments were led by Ahern: