Ahern bows out defending party

NOEL AHERN stood up in the Dáil last night and defended Fianna Fáil to the end. He criticised Labour’s Pat Rabbitte for claiming that Fianna Fáil had brought the country from boom to bust.

Such claims were nonsense, said Mr Ahern. Terrific things had happened in Ireland over the last 20 years, mostly under Fianna Fáil’s watch. Unsurprisingly, he had much less to say about the way the party’s time in power was coming to an end: in the ignominy of an EU/IMF bailout and a loss of economic independence.

Such was the final contribution by an Ahern brother to the Dáil. Bertie Ahern stepped down as taoiseach amid his own ignominy over his personal finances in 2008, and while he remained as a TD for Dublin Central, he rarely spoke again in the Dáil. Over Christmas he confirmed he would not contest the election.

Noel Ahern confirmed likewise on Monday night, deciding to retire rather than seek to retain his seat in Dublin North West. Mr Ahern frankly admitted that by stepping down he was giving constituency colleague Pat Carey a much better chance of holding his own seat.

Still, it was arguably better to go quietly than suffer the fate of another Ahern brother, Maurice.

In 2009, the former Lord Mayor of Dublin ran in the by-election in Dublin Central — ie, in Bertie’s own constituency. But Maurice was soundly beaten. To cap the humiliation, he failed on the same day to retain his Dublin City Council seat.

That was the point at which observers realised the famed Ahern political machine was no more.

But we may not have heard the last of the latter Ahern brother yet.

His protégé, Cyprian Brady, is running in Dublin Central in a seemingly forlorn attempt to retain his seat.

Mr Brady famously won 939 first-preference votes in the 2007 general election, but because of Bertie Ahern’s massive surplus, won a second seat for Fianna Fáil.

With Mr Ahern not running, and Fianna Fáil support at record lows, Mr Brady would seem to have no chance. His plight has been made worse by party headquarters’ decision to run two candidates, the other being hard-working councillor Mary Fitzpatrick.

Ms Fitzpatrick was shafted by Mr Ahern on previous occasions because he wanted Mr Brady as his running mate.

She would now seem to represent the party’s best chance of holding a seat in Dublin Central. But Mr Ahern has made clear that he would be throwing his weight behind Mr Brady.

It will be fascinating to see if the Ahern machine can get Mr Brady across the line. But the risk must surely be that voters may dish out one final humiliation to the former taoiseach.