Bertie Ahern political assessment: An electoral phenomenon from the start

Bertie Ahern was one of the most popular and successful politicians in the history of the Irish state.

He won three general elections in a row between 1997 and 2007 a feat only matched by Eamon de Valera, the longest serving Taoiseach of all.

Ahern’s crowning achievement was the Belfast agreement which was finalised after tortuous negotiations in 1998 during his first term in Government.

He also ran one of the most successful ever EU presidencies in 2002 which paved the way for the enlargement of the Union to take in the countries of eastern and central Europe.

Despite a huge controversy about his personal finances before his final election campaign in 2007 he came from behind to win the election and form his third administration in coalition with the Green Party.

Ahern was an electoral phenomenon from the start. An accounts clerk in the Mater Hospital he was elected to the Dáil in the Dublin Central constituency 1977 at the age of 25.

He quickly built up a formidable organisation in the constituency and established himself as one of the leading politicians in Dublin.

A strong supporter of Charles Haughey, Ahern rose rapidly through the ranks under the Boss.

Along with TDs like Albert Reynolds, Ray MacSharry and Charlie McCreevy he plotted the overthrow of Jack Lynch and helped Haughey defeat his bitter rival George Colley for the party leadership in December 1979.

Ahern was quickly promoted by Haughey becoming party chief whip during the tumultuous leadership heaves of the early 1980s.

During that decade he was Lord Mayor of Dublin and when Haughey returned to power in 1987 Ahern was appointed to the cabinet as Minister for Labour.

He became a central figure in the Government and it was during this period that Haughey referred to him as “the most skilful, the most devious and the most cunning of them all.”

When Haughey was forced out of office in 1992 Ahern was widely regarded as a leadership rival to Reynolds but he did not push it to the vote when he calculated that he didn’t have the numbers to win.

Reynolds appointed him as Minister for Finance in 1992 and he served in that position during the final months of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat coalition and during the life of the Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition.

When Reynolds was forced out of office in November 1994 Ahern succeeded him by acclaim.

While he did not manage to keep Fianna Fáil in power as had been expected he won enough seats in the 1997 election to form a coalition with the PDs, backed by a handful of Independents.

For the following 11 years he was continuously in office. For most of that time he was extremely popular getting much higher poll ratings than any other Taoiseach before or since.

Ahern’s non confrontational style and his ability to find compromise in the most unpromising circumstances was the key to his success.

Unlike Haughey and Reynolds he ensured that his coalitions worked smoothly.

Social partnership, which involved detailed agreements with the trade unions and employers, was a key element of Ahern’s approach to running the country.

The Celtic Tiger boom took off during Ahern’s first administration and continued right up to near the end.

There was a huge expansion in state spending which saw massive increases in public sector salaries, pensions and welfare.

His refusal to see the storm clouds gathering over the economy and his injunction and his dismissal of those who tried to warn him was a feature of his final years in office.

He stepped down in 2008 after the planning tribunal uncovered some strange dealings in his personal finances but that controversy did little to undermine his popularity.

It was only when the crash happened on the watch of his successor Brian Cowen that Ahern was subjected to general criticism.