Ahern believes his government deserves credit for economic boom

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern wants people to credit his government for growing the economy before its collapse.

And he said it would have been “exciting and interesting” to have led the country during the period which saw it require an international bailout.

“An economy is always up and down, we brought it up… I always claim that if people blame us for bringing down the economy, they also have to blame us for bringing it up,” he said.