By Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, April 3, 2008
LONDON, April 2 -- Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland but was dogged by investigations into his personal finances, said Wednesday that he would resign next month after almost 11 years in office.
Ahern, 56, announced his resignation at a Dublin news conference as a government tribunal continues to investigate whether he received improper cash payments from businessmen in the mid-1990s.
In a sometimes emotional 11-minute address, Ahern denied wrongdoing. But he said the "incessant" focus on his finances had been a drain on his administration, adding that the government must "not be constantly deflected by the minutiae of my life, my lifestyle and my finances."
"I have never received a corrupt payment, and I've never done anything to dishonor any office I have held," Ahern said. "I know in my heart of hearts I've done no wrong and wronged no one."
The second-longest-serving prime minister in Irish history, Ahern took office in June 1997 during a period of breathtaking economic growth in Ireland.
With his boxer's build and gregarious personality, he built his political career on being a popular and plainspoken "man of the people."
"He has an affectionate following among the voters, who put him in office three times," said Irish author and historian Tim Pat Coogan. Ahern remained popular, Coogan noted, despite growing pressure from opposition politicians and members of his own coalition government.
Beyond cultivating his modest Everyman image, Ahern has proved a shrewd political operator. He was often called the "Teflon taoiseach," the Gaelic word for prime minister.
Under his watch, Ireland built hundreds of thousands of new homes and businesses and became awash with millionaires and even billionaires as the "Celtic Tiger" economy boomed. By 2006, the nation's population had topped 4 million for the first time since the mid-19th century. Immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa and China have been drawn to the flourishing economy, and many Irish who had left their once-impoverished land returned.
Working closely with Tony Blair, then Britain's prime minister, Ahern brought Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant leaders together to sign the landmark 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.
"The priority I put above all others was to work for peace on this island, and I have given all to that cause," Ahern said Wednesday as he announced his intention to step down May 6. He was flanked by top aides from his party, Fianna Fail.
"He will have, deservedly, a central place in his nation's political history and much more widely" as well, Blair said Wednesday, calling Ahern "a remarkable man with a remarkable record of achievement."
Blair's successor as Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, praised Ahern for "transforming Ireland's relationship with the U.K., and playing a key role in the development of a forward-looking and dynamic Europe."
Former Irish prime minister Garret FitzGerald, from the opposition Fine Gael party, said in an interview that despite Ahern's "financial problems," the outgoing leader has "extraordinary negotiating skills" and has handled Northern Ireland and European issues "brilliantly."
Ahern, who will address a joint session of Congress this month in one of his last official duties, said Wednesday he was proud to be only the fourth visiting world leader to have addressed both the U.S. Congress and the British Parliament.
Ahern's ultimate downfall follows an investigation by the Mahon Tribunal, which the Irish government established in November 1997 to look into allegations of bribes and other payments related to Ireland's fast-paced development.
The tribunal has been investigating deposits into Ahern's accounts totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in the first half of the 1990s, when he was a member of Parliament but not prime minister.
Last October, Ahern acknowledged receiving cash payments from businessmen who were personal friends during the period when he was separating from his wife, Miriam. He denied that the payments were unethical.
"All of these issues arose in a period when my family, personal and professional situations were rapidly changing, and I made the best decisions I could in the circumstances in which I found myself," Ahern said Wednesday.
Still, Ahern has never provided a full accounting of several cash deposits. And his case was not helped last week when a former secretary testified that in 1994 she had deposited about 15,000 British pounds, then worth about $23,000, into Ahern's bank account, which Ahern had previously denied.
"This dates back to an era of looser accounting of political and private donations," said Coogan, the historian. "It wasn't Tony Soprano walking into his office. This is the past catching up with a good man." Coogan said the long-running inquiry and the unanswered questions amounted to "death by a thousand cuts" for the prime minister.
The tribunal's work is expected to go on for months, and analysts said it is increasingly clear that it will produce a report critical of Ahern.
Michael Gallagher, a professor of political science at Trinity College Dublin, said the resignation "was a surprise to everyone, but there was growing speculation his position was growing untenable."
"Bertie lives in an ordinary suburban house and goes to the local pub, and he was never seen as someone who was making much money in politics," Gallagher said. "He will be remembered well, as a modest and direct person who seemed to live the same lifestyle as most people. But nonetheless, there was something odd about his finances."
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