DUBLIN -- After 15 years of hearings, a tribunal in Ireland has concluded that ''corruption affected every level of Irish political life'' and that a former prime minister, Bertie Ahern, had failed to tell the truth about more than $275,000 he received while in office. But the tribunal said it could not conclude that Mr. Ahern had taken bribes. The...
Bath, England COULD there be a single phrase that explains the woes of our time, this dismal age of political miscalculations and deceptions, of reckless and disastrous wars, of financial boom and bust and downright criminality? Maybe there is, and we owe it to Fintan O'Toole. That trenchant Irish commentator is a biographer and theater critic, and...

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland, one of Europe's longest-serving leaders, who was closely involved in the negotiations that brought peace to Northern Ireland, announced Wednesday that he would resign next month. He denied accusations of corruption in the 1990s, when he was finance minister, but said he was quitting to prevent his...
Patrick Bartholomew Ahern, kendt som Bertie Ahern – irsk: Pádraig Parthalán Ó hEachthairn (født 12. september 1951 i Dublin) er en indflydelsesrig politiker fra Republikken Irland. Fra 26. juni 1997 til 6. maj 2008 var han Republikken Irlands 10. Taoiseach (premierminister).
Bertie Ahern ledede en koalitionsregering af hans eget Fianna Fáil, landets største parti, i samarbejde med de mindre partier Green Party og Progressive Democrats med støtte fra enkelte individuelt valgte medlemmer af parlamentet. Bertie Ahern gik styrket ud af parlamentsvalget i maj 2007, skønt Fianna Fáil ikke opnåede absolut flertal. Regeringen var en liberal regering, der spændte fra Irlands politiske centrum og mod højre.
2. april 2008 meddelte Ahern, at han trak sig tilbage fra premierministerposten og som partileder 6. maj 2008. Det skyldtes, at han blev anklaget for i begyndelsen af 1990'erne at have modtaget penge til personligt brug fra forretningsfolk. Der blev nævnt et beløb på 452.800 irske pund. Han blev afløst på begge poster af Brian Cowen. Fold ud