Bertie Ahern

Who is Bertie Ahern?

Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008.

Ahern served as a Teachta Dála from 1977 to 2011 and he represented the constituency of Dublin Central. Before he became Taoiseach, he served in the governments of Charles Haughey and Albert Reynolds as Minister for Labour and Minister for Finance. He also served briefly as Tánaiste after the break-up of Albert Reynolds' coalition government.

In 1994, Ahern was elected sixth leader of Fianna Fáil. Under Ahern's leadership Fianna Fáil led three coalition governments. After Éamon de Valera, Bertie Ahern's term as Taoiseach is the longest. Ahern resigned as Taoiseach on 6 May 2008, in the wake of revelations made in Mahon Tribunal, and was succeeded by the then Minister for Finance Brian Cowen. The Mahon Tribunal in 2012 found that Ahern, while not judged corrupt, had received monies from developers and the Tribunal disbelieved his explanations of those payments. Fianna Fáil proposed to expel politicians censured by the tribunal, but Ahern resigned from the party, that he had been a leader of, prior to the expulsion motion being moved.