Ahern: Peace process my biggest achievement
Helping to bring peace and powersharing to the North is Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s biggest achievement in office, he said today.
Mr Ahern is expected to be returned to power for a third consecutive term after his Fianna Fáil party won 41.6% of the vote in this weekend’s General Election.
A number of recent milestones in the Northern Ireland peace process have been credited with helping Mr Ahern’s success.
Devolved government was restored to Stormont earlier this month and Mr Ahern also addressed the joint Houses of Westminster.
He was also accompanied on a visit to the historic Battle of the Boyne site with Northern Ireland First Minister Rev Ian Paisley.
When asked about his biggest achievement in office to date, Mr Ahern said today: “The answer to that is easy for me. It is moving from the horrors of Northern Ireland – that I went to school with, spent my teenage years with, spent my 20s with, spent my political years with – to see that solved.
“Nothing I will do will ever beat that,” he told RTÉ Radio.
Mr Ahern said he had been congratulated “at length” on his election performance by British prime minister Tony Blair and Rev Ian Paisley, as well as other EU leaders.
The outgoing Taoiseach is strongly expected to form a government in coming weeks with the Progressive Democrats party and a number of Independents.
