Bertie backs treaty with dynamic duo

BERTIE AHERN proved it was better to give than receive last night as he talked his way into a €97,000 dig out for Fianna Fáil’s election war chest.

More than 480 guests paid €200 a head to hear the Taoiseach address the party’s president’s dinner in Cork where he announced the top-level team that will ram home the Government’s message in the upcoming referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Tánaiste Brian Cowen and Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern will be charged with ensuring the vote becomes a positive endorsement of Europe and not a negative rebuff of a government already suffering in the polls just eight months into a new term.