CASHING IN HIS CHIPS

We must take Dermot Ahern’s stated motivation for standing down at face value, but more will surely follow and money will come into the equation, writes Political Correspondent Paul O’Brien

IN his statement announcing his intention to stand down at the general election, Dermot Ahern said he believed in the “upcoming generation” and he believed “in our country”. He didn’t bother to say he believed in Brian Cowen (though he defended him in subsequent interviews). And that is the wider dilemma facing veteran Fianna Fáil ministers and TDs now as the general election looms: who does believe in Brian Cowen? The public — or at least, an overwhelming majority of them — certainly do not.

Mr Ahern, 55, said he had decided with his family after the 2007 general election that he would not contest another one. He also said he had been diagnosed in the past 18 months with a painful medical condition — rheumatoid arthritis — and been advised that a change in his “pace of life” was essential in coping with it. Finally, he said he told Mr Cowen as far back as October 2009 of his decision not to run again. All that has to be taken at face value.