IRELAND: Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern to step down on May 6

Record ID: 402606

  • Title: IRELAND: Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern to step down on May 6
  • Date: 2nd April 2008
  • Summary: (BN09) DUBLIN, IRELAND (FILE - MAY 24, 2007) (REUTERS) AHERN VOTING IN ELECTIONS
  • Embargoed: 17th April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ireland
  • Country: Ireland
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA1JAQI25IJ6TSDRCXJF4BIKIDZ
  • Story Text: Bertie Ahern, who helped deliver peace in Northern Ireland, will step down as Ireland's prime minister on May 6, to fight allegations of corruption that have dogged his final term in office.
    Bertie Ahern said on Wednesday (April 2) that he will step down as Ireland's Taoiseach (prime minister) on May 6, as a result of a constant barrage of allegations about his personal finances.
    The Taoiseach was adamant that he had nothing to fear from on-going inquiries about his finances at the tribunal into planning corruption.
    One of Europe's longest serving heads of government after almost 11 years as premier, Ahern had previously said this would be his last term in office but he did not intend to go until it ended in 2012.
    Widely praised for his work with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President Bill Clinton in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, Ahern's star has been on the wane after revelations about his personal finances.
    He said on Wednesday that he had decided "of his own volition" to bring forward the date of his resignation so the government would not be "distracted by incessant publicity" about the anti-corruption tribunal before which he been appearing.
    Since first testifying before the Mahon Tribunal in September, Ahern has repeatedly been called back to answer questions over payments he received from friends and businessmen while finance minister in the 1990s.
    Ahern, who did not have a bank account at the time, has denied any wrongdoing, describing his finances as complex but not improper following the breakdown of his marriage.
    Dubbed the Teflon Taoiseach for his ability to avoid the scandal that dogged his predecessor and mentor Charles Haughey, Ahern won last year's general election despite leaks to the media detailing what the tribunal had uncovered.
    Ahern's popularity has dipped in line with Ireland's once thriving economy which began to slow last year after a decade-long property boom ground to a halt.
    Ahern has been finance minister or prime minister for most of the Celtic Tiger boom years when Ireland was transformed from one of Europe's poorest economies to one of its richest.
    He was the first Irish leader since one of the Republic's founding fathers, Eamon De Valera, to have been re-elected three times.
    Ahern had been expected to lead the campaign for a "yes" vote in a referendum later this year that will determine the fate of the European Union's reform treaty which replaces a constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
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