Ahern plays down Merkel snub

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern last night moved to brush aside a public snub by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Mr Ahern insisted he was not disappointed by Ms Merkel’s enthusiastic endorsement of Fine Gael in the looming General Election, despite working closely with the chancellor at EU level.

Ms Merkel caused a diplomatic ripple with an open letter to Mr Kenny in which she explicitly hoped FG would win the election.