Ahern praises Blair as they share award

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern paid an extraordinary personal tribute to British Prime Minister Tony Blair as both were awarded a major international peace prize yesterday.

The two leaders were recipients of the Thomas J Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, worth $75,000.

Mr Ahern and British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott standing in for Mr Blair were presented the prize at a ceremony at the University of Connecticut yesterday.

Straying from the script of his official acceptance speech, the Taoiseach delivered a eulogy on Mr Blair as a leader to whom "history will be kind".

"I was brought up in a house quite frankly that was not particularly fond of British prime ministers," said Mr Ahern. "We probably went to bed at night not just cursing the dark but other things as well."

He went on to describe his close relationship and friendship with Mr Blair.

He said that he has travelled to Downing Street and to Mr Blair's official retreat, Chequers, so often that they now almost felt his own offices.

Mr Ahern said it would be "totally remiss" of him not to state his belief that Tony Blair was a "wonderful, wonderful, person whom history will be kind to".

"As Irish leader, as Irish Taoiseach, I say that Tony Blair is a great person whom we deeply appreciate."

The Taoiseach said that he would donate his half of the award, which comes to $37,500, to three different Irish charities.

He will give $15,000 to Children at Risk in Ireland (CARI), a support and counselling service for children who are victims of abuse. His wife, Miriam, is a patron and long-time fund raiser for the charity.

In addition, he will donate $15,000 to Temple Street Children's Hospital to help fund an electro-diagnostic project aimed at preventing blindness in children.

The remaining $7,500 will go to an un-named anti-drugs project in Dublin. However, the British government did not accept its portion of the prize and requested the university to donate the money to local charities.

Mr Ahern said that the British and Irish governments were "ad idem" in their views as to how the current obstacles could be overcome. He said he did not want to be pinned down on the exact deadline by which time an election must be called but said it must happen by mid-October.

Mr Prescott read out a letter from Mr Blair in which he said it was not time for all the "acts of completion" but warned that the "outcome is by no means guaranteed".