FORMER TAOISEACH BERTIE Ahern is attending this weekend’s Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis, his first since rejoining the party this year.
Ahern rejoined the party in February as an ordinary member.
When asked by The Journal how it felt to be back, Ahern said “it’s great”.
He said he had been doing a lot of travelling around the country in the run up to the local elections next year, stating that a lot of the people here are old friends.
Upon his arrival to the venue this afternoon, Ahern was mobbed by attendees requesting photographs and selfies with the former Taoiseach.
It is expected that Ahern will also feature in a video montage that will be played at the Ard Fheis this weekend, which shows footage of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Ahern resigned from Fianna Fáil in 2012 after the Mahon Tribunal. He stepped down as Taoiseach in 2008 and as a TD in 2011. He made the move before party leader Micheál Martin sought to expel him from the party.
The tribunal (officially the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments) found that he did not truthfully account for payments of IR£165,000 made to accounts connected to him.
It was scathing in its treatment of the former Taoiseach, rejecting much of the evidence he provided in connection to a substantial number of lodgements made in the 1990s.
Although the tribunal did not make findings of corruption against Ahern, it proved hugely damaging to his reputation. He has disputed the findings.
Much has been commented on regarding the relationship between Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Ahern over the years.
Upon Ahern’s rejoining, Martin told Newstalk that he wasn’t going to stop Ahern from joining his local cumman again.
“We weren’t going to stop that. There are issues and I’ve made my position very clear on those back at the time. They will always be there.
“There’s a lot of other people in politics who did far worse – I won’t go into all that – and who got elected subsequently and went into politics. I think we need perspective on all of these.”
When reminded that he sought to expel his predecessor from the party, Martin said that he resigned in the wake of the tribunal.
“As far as I am concerned, it’s ten years on, I’m conscious of the contribution he has made to peace in the country.
Martin went on to state that peace on the island is a lifelong mission of Ahern.
“I don’t think we can take that from Bertie Ahern,” he said.
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