‘Utopia doesn’t exist’ but Brexit deal is ‘near to it’ for business in Northern Ireland - Bertie Ahern

Bertie Ahern has responded to the Brexit deal between the UK and EU, saying that for business in Northern Ireland “Utopia doesn’t exist” but the agreement is “near to it”.

Amid speculation about his own intentions, the former taoiseach said questions about who will run for Áras an Uachtaráin in 2025 are “disrespectful” of the current president Michael D Higgins.

He was speaking on British podcast The News Agents in the wake of the Windsor Framework deal signed off on by UK primemMinister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Mr Ahern said unionists will study the documents carefully and he predicted they will come back with points of clarification before deciding whether or not to back the deal and pave the way for a return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

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He said: “I think that’s good because it will remove debate... and remove arguments down the road.”

Mr Ahern said he imagined this process will “probably” take a week, adding: “There’s no harm in that once it doesn’t drag on into any lengthy period and I don’t see why it should.”

He was asked why Mr Sunak secured concessions from the EU in a way his predecessors couldn’t and confirmed he did not think former prime minister Boris Johnson would have gotten the deal.

Mr Ahern said said there was a sense in the EU that in recent years the British Government had been playing a “long game” to get concessions on other issues like finance and insurance that had nothing to do with Ireland.

“Rishi Sunak took a different track. He got into meaningful and substantive discussions at an early date.”

Mr Sunak has been highlighting the benefits for Northern Ireland of being able to trade within the UK internal market while also being part of the EU Single Market, saying it is in an “unbelievably special position”.

On whether there was a danger the deal is being oversold, Mr Ahern said businesses had some difficulties with the Northern Ireland Protocol but they were “very little”.

He said the change proposed under the deal “eases” bureaucratic and cost issues.

“You now have a well-organised and very easy system of the UK internal market; you have the island of Ireland market - which is a substantive market because of the huge multinational companies we have in the Republic; and you have the Single Market.

“I mean what could be better... for business in Northern Ireland?

“Utopia doesn’t exist but that’s as near to it,” Mr Ahern said.

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Presidential bid

The news that Mr Ahern had rejoined Fianna Fáil more than a decade after he resigned from the party after the report of the Mahon Tribunal fuelled speculation that he is considering a bid to be elected President in 2025.

At the weekend, an Irish Times/Ipsos poll found that 51 per cent of voters said they would “definitely not vote” for Mr Ahern if he runs, with just 7 per cent saying they definitely would.

Asked on the podcast about the speculation he might run, Mr Ahern said: “They keep asking me that question and the answer... is I want to live that long ‘til the next election number one, and number two if I ever do think about that issue the world will know and if I don’t then I won’t have to let the world know at all.”

He said that he is a member of the Council of State and is a “huge supporter” of President Higgins, adding: “I actually think it’s disrespectful of those people in the Republic who raise the issue about who will be next.

“Traditionally we never have a debate about who’s the next president until the last three months or so... the issue doesn’t even arise for two and a half years.”