Bertie Ahern says talk of the presidency is “for another day” – insisting he did not re-join Fianna Fáil to relaunch his political career.
The former Taoiseach was speaking to Pat Kenny ahead of the release of his new podcast – As I Remember It: Bertie Ahern & The Good Friday Agreement.
The podcast, produced by Newstalk, features Ahern in conversation with all the main players involved in striking the historic peace agreement almost 25 years ago.
Featuring in-depth interviews with the likes of Bill Clinton, George Mitchell and Tony Blair, the podcast offers fascinating insights into what it was like to be in the room as one of the world’s most successful peace agreements was negotiated.
Mr Ahern has found himself heavily featured in the news cycle in recent weeks, after it emerged he had re-joined Fianna Fáil 11 years after resigning from the party under a cloud of controversy over the findings of the Mahon Tribunal.
This morning, he told Pat that the move has nothing to do with any future tilt at the presidency.
“I assure you this Pat, there should be no connection between me re-joining one of the party’s 3,000 cumanns (associations) - because I was always there and affiliated - and what might happen in the future,” he said.
“At this stage, I have no thoughts about the next presidential election.
“I’m not ruling it out because I don’t think the issue should even be discussed at this stage.”
Presidency
He said talk of the presidency is “for another day” – noting that Ireland has a tradition of only discussing the presidency within three months of the election.
“When it does come up, somewhere in the middle of 2025, everybody then who has an interest will have to express it,” he said.
“Whether I have or not then, God knows. It will come up in 2025 and I’m sure there will be loads of candidates from what I hear and whether I even think about – certainly if I think about it, you will hear about and if I don’t … I have discussed it with nobody.
“I haven’t discussed it with my best friends because it’s not on my agenda.”
'I'm paying my 20 quid'
Ahern said he has been working with his local Fianna Fáil cumann ever since he resigned from the party in 2008 - noting that the only difference now is he is “paying my 20 quid” membership fee.
“All I did was join my local cumann,” he said. “I didn’t take over as Taoiseach or anything.”
As I Remember It: Bertie Ahern & The Good Friday AgreementAhern said he spoke to all the surviving players in the Good Friday Agreement for the new podcast – and for those that have since passed on, such as John and Pat Hume, David Trimble and Ian Paisley, he spoke to people who were in their inner circle.
He said he began with the aim of renewing the story for people who lived through it and offering new detail that was rarely heard – but quickly realised the importance of the work for the younger generation.
“We realised there is a whole generation who, because of Brexit, hear the Good Friday Agreement mentioned nearly every day in some context, but they don’t know much about it,” he said.
“So, what we’ve tried to do is get all the players - loyalists, unionists, republicans and nationalists - to give what their thinking was and there it is.
“I hope people enjoy it and I think for history, there will be about 50 or 60 hours of tapes that will be there for people to use.”
As I Remember It is a nine-part series that will launch on all streaming platforms this February 23rd.
Three episodes will be released each week throughout the run - you can hear a sneak preview here:
