Wedding ‘private’, says Bertie’s brother

BERTIE AHERN’S brother has defended the Taoiseach’s shunning of the media at his daughter’s wedding last weekend, saying that the marriage of Georgina and Nicky Byrne should have been treated as a private affair, notwithstanding the couple’s deal with a celebrity magazine.

Alderman Maurice Ahern, a former Lord Mayor of Dublin, said his brother faced a stark choice.

“He had two choices. Go to the wedding or not go to the wedding.

“He was not going to miss his daughter’s wedding. If you go to your daughter’s wedding, you do what your daughter wants,” he said.

He said the massive media coverage of the wedding, and the criticisms that were voiced, were by-products of the ‘silly season’. He said his brother had not been damaged politically by the affair and rounded on what he saw as unfair coverage.

“Of course, the media believe that he is [politically damaged]. They write this stuff and believe they are the real opposition. Some of them believe their own script to an excessive extent. That is the price of politics.”

Ald Ahern, who said that he enjoyed the wedding immensely, added that he had read little of the coverage but had spoken to friends about it.

“Their reaction was: ‘Did you ever read such shite as was in the papers last weekend’,” he said.

In relation to the €800,000 deal that the couple struck with Hello! magazine for exclusive rights, and the fact that the marriage took place in France, he expressed surprise there was such criticism.

“Any one of us who would be offered sums like that, who would not take it? Irish people go to Rome every week to marry because it is cheaper than getting married in Ireland.”

He said his brother was “very generous” with the press.

“I remember when Albert Reynolds was Taoiseach, people said he was going back into his bunker.

“Every Monday, Bertie makes himself available to the media be it radio or TV, no matter what the issue is.

“The family wedding was a private affair. I do not think that it will damage him. I listen to my friends and they are a good barometer,” he said.

He said his brother would not be upset or unsettled it.

“In a couple of weeks time, you will see Bertie out at the doors canvassing for the local elections,” he said.