Nice vote a test of Ahern’s leadership

WE must hope Bertie Ahern and his colleagues are enjoying their break because they will have to hit the ground running when they get back to work at the end of this month.

It is not often that a newly elected Government faces an electoral test just four months after the general election. But that is Mr Ahern's situation as he prepares to re-run the EU Nice Treaty referendum in October. The experience of June 2001 will have taught him he could lose this, country plunging himself and the entire country into a difficult situation.

Everyone in this Government knows that they are likely to be extremely unpopular very soon now. Demands on the public purse continue to grow and tax revenues are depleted. All the indicators are that the Government must cut spending.