Taoiseach ‘endured taunts’ during peace negotiations

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern quietly endured taunts and abuse from unionists during delicate Northern Ireland peace negotiations, a former PR guru to the British government claimed yesterday.

Former director of communications and strategy for Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell said Mr Ahern often sat in a room beside the British Prime Minister and was “absolutely abused”.

In an effort to avoid confrontation, Mr Ahern would only utter a response with “choice colourful” words when those who taunted him left the room, Mr Campbell told RTÉ’s Today with Tom McGurk.

“Ultimately, he [Mr Ahern] has got a deep humanity that is matched with an acute political understanding. I just think at a personal level, I like him a lot. I also don’t think that Tony would have been able to do what he did if the chemistry between him and Bertie Ahern wasn’t there,” said Mr Campbell.

“Tony was the person who was absolutely driven and saying that we are not leaving this room until we’re finished and Bertie Ahern was the guy who was going around cajoling and picking up and pushing it.”

Claiming that Mr Blair had worked out how to solve “the Northern Ireland problem” after only 11 days in power, the former communications director said the problem was made for his particular strengths.

“I think lesser people and less determined men would have said this isn’t going to happen... we’ve tried our best, let’s go home. There were several points in the process during which he said to me if we could draft an exit strategy from where we were at that point but then he’d find something else, he’d find another reason to keep going,” he said.

Describing the former Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble as “maddening but decisive”, Mr Campbell added that Sinn Féin negotiators Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were “tough”.

“They were a double act in some ways with McGuinness as bad cop and Adams as good cop.”