Ahern fêted at €13m constitution bash

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern’s role in securing the EU constitution was recognised at the lavish, €13 million signing of the agreement yesterday in Rome.

As the person who master-minded getting the leaders of all 25 EU member states to agree the final document in June, Mr Ahern was one of just three prime ministers to speak in the splendid Michaelangelo designed Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome.

But he warned that the signing ceremony was just the beginning of a process, to ratify the constitution in each state, which is expected to take two years.