Water under the bridge for Brady and Ahern

IT rained on Royston Brady’s parade yesterday, but this time, it wasn’t Bertie Ahern who was responsible.

Inclement weather threatened to spoil the official opening of the four-star Avon Ri resort in Blessington, Co Wicklow, which Mr Brady’s hotel recruitment company has staffed and managed these past five months.

But despite the rain, the Taoiseach brought a metaphorical ray of sunshine to the proceedings, an audible buzz going up as he strode through the conference suite where more than 100 guests were gathered for the event.

Mr Ahern had been greeted warmly a few minutes earlier by Mr Brady, the two men swapping jokes and shaking hands for the photographers.

It was a far cry from 2004, when, following the implosion of Mr Brady’s campaign to win a European Parliament seat, relations between the two were considered distant, at best.

Mr Brady, the former Lord Mayor of Dublin, become involved in a highly public row with Fianna Fáil headquarters about unpaid bills left over from the campaign. He alleged that the Taoiseach had given him personal assurances that the party would pay the bills. Fianna Fáil disputed this, and it seemed Mr Brady’s once promising political career was finished — as long as Mr Ahern was leading the party, anyway.

Sure enough, when Mr Brady publicly raised the possibility in late 2005 of being the Taoiseach’s running mate in the Dublin Central constituency in the forthcoming election, he was simply ignored.

But if those events did, as believed, cause bitterness, there was no sign of it yesterday. Mr Brady briefly welcomed the assembled guests and praised the owners and staff of the resort before thanking the Taoiseach, saying he was “immensely proud” of all Mr Ahern had achieved for the country, and wishing him well in the election.

He couldn’t resist a rider, though. “I was actually reliably informed earlier on that you’ll attend the launch of the Wicklow Fianna Fáil election candidates this evening,” he said to Mr Ahern, adding to guffaws from the audience: “Now just in case there are any journalists here, there’s no truth in the rumour that I’m going to throw my hat in the ring tonight!”

Mr Ahern returned the backslapping, provoking more laughter when telling Mr Brady: “It’s good to see that you’re thriving again. There’s far more money in this, I can tell you, than a lot of the other things I tried to talk you into in your life…”

Away from stage, the 34-year-old talked of how work and family life — he and wife Michelle have a five-month-old son, Ethan — happily occupy all his time these days. But a return to politics clearly remains in the picture.

“I’d be too young to retire — let’s put it that way — from politics. Looking at the age profile of most people in Leinster House, I’d be very young, by comparison… I’d never say never.”