‘I JUST WANT TO HELP’

BERTIE AHERN EXCLUSIVE

FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has called on Fianna Fáil to reclaim its past in comments that will be seen as a rebuke to his successor, Micheál Martin.

This week, Mr Ahern’s former cumann in Dublin Central voted to readmit him as an ordinary member but the current Fianna Fáil leader said that his stance had not changed since 2012.

After the final Mahon Tribunal report was published that year, Mr Martin recommended that Mr Ahern should be expelled from Fianna Fáil. Mr Ahern subsequently resigned.

However, in a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Mr Ahern argues that much has changed since 2012.

He said: ‘It is a different scenario now. My belief is that Fianna Fáil shouldn’t be talking about the past as if we’re something terrible, that we’ve left all that past behind.

‘Why have we left the past of de Valera, Lemass, Lynch, Haughey, Reynolds, myself? Why are we leaving all that? All of us in our time did great things and we did some things wrong.

‘There were things that we didn’t do right. But all that legacy of the past, why would any political movement forget about all of that? I’m afraid that’s something I don’t get.’

Mr Ahern remains very popular within Fianna Fáil and if he chooses to officially apply for membership, it is unlikely that he will be rejected.

Despite Mr Martin’s declaration that his views on the man who first appointed him to Cabinet had not changed over the intervening 4½ years, the decision may not be in the party leader’s hands.

‘There were things that we didn’t do right’

If the application was to be rejected at the initial stages, it would ultimately go to the party’s ruling body, the ard chomhairle, where it would have a very good chance of being passed.

Those in favour of Mr Ahern rejoining emphasise his knowledge of Dublin politics and see him acting in an advisory role. They stress he has no intention of standing for any election again.

A number of sources in Fianna Fáil have said that headquarters staff are largely in favour of accepting him back into the fold, as are most of the frontbench. Only Mr Martin and one prominent frontbencher oppose the move.

Chris Wall, Ahern’s long-term associate, who tabled the motion inviting him to rejoin at a constituency event on Tuesday, did not receive Mr Martin’s statement about Mr Ahern well.

He said Martin was as much a part of Fianna Fáil’s past as Ahern, having served under him in Cabinet. ‘He was part of that group,’ said Mr Wall, ‘Maybe it’s time for him to move on.’

It is understood that all membership applications have to be processed by two honorary secretaries. While they can be rejected at this level, the rejection can then be appealed to the national executive and put to a vote.

For his part, Mr Ahern believes the party needs his expertise. He was asked how he thought the party, now hovering around 25% in the polls, was faring. His answer was lukewarm.

‘They’re all right, I mean they’re doing all right. We’re not where we should be. I used always feel bad when I wasn’t up at 40%.

‘You have to keep working at it, keep every member doing his bit. That’s all I was being asked to do, was come back and do my bit. I was being asked to do no more, as a guy that is getting older. I hadn’t even said I would or wouldn’t.’

Mr Ahern said he was not sure if he would pursue an application for readmittance.

‘I don’t know, I don’t know what the constituency will do now, the one thing I’m not interested in doing is getting into an argument. I would continue to help people, regardless of what position I have or don’t have. I wouldn’t get myself too excited.’

However, sources in the Dublin Central organisation said they believe that Mr Ahern will definitely submit an application and it will be successful.

The matter will continue to be an embarrassment for Mr Martin.

In March 2012, the Mahon Tribunal reported said that the former taoiseach Bertie Ahern had failed to ‘truthfully’ explain the source of money. It rejected his evidence of ‘dig-outs’ from friends.

Last year, the MoS revealed that two organisers of controversial financial ‘dig-outs’ for Mr Ahern had had findings of non-co-operation with the Mahon Tribunal withdrawn.

Mr Ahern pointed to these reports when arguing that Mr Martin was wrong to say that circumstances had not changed.

He said: ‘Lots of things have happened since, there have been a number of court cases, all of which were won. How is that the same?’

However, Bertie Ahern’s evidence at the Tribunal caused huge damage to his reputation. In an interview conducted at Mr Ahern’s modest secondfloor Drumcondra office on Friday, he said he now believed that the public’s attitude had changed.

‘The Banking Inquiry was a big thing, you had a chance of explaining things,’ he said. ‘In the cold light of day, people now realise – because people have travelled – they now realise that the effects of 2008 (the financial crash) are worldwide. They’ve heard it through the election in Britain and the election in America. And they’ve heard it through the Brexit debate.’

Yet he understands the hugely negative attitude from the public towards him, saying: ‘At that time, of course I did. When the downturn came, even though I’d gone, they knew some of the policies related to the period I was there.

‘Naturally, they said: “You should have seen this coming.” Which we didn’t and neither did any international bodies who were advising us. But of course you understand it and you accept that. As I did in the Banking Inquiry, you accept your role in it.

‘I didn’t accept my role in the banking because I wasn’t responsible, but I did in the property because we were giving incentives. There is no problem with that.’

Mr Ahern was in Ukraine, working on the peace process there with the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) when news broke about his proposed readmittance.

‘And then I came back here to hear they wanted me to take over as Taoiseach and President in the one,’ he joked. ‘I didn’t even know they (cumann members) were meeting. I do keep in touch with them for a pint but I don’t be involved.

‘I have great regard for the delegates and the organisation in Dublin Central, they are good people, they work hard and always have. I’ve dealt with them for 40 years.’ Mr Ahern’s former rival in the constituency, Mary Fitzpatrick, failed to

‘I always used feel bad when I wasn’t at 40%’