Taoiseach to confirm election date

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will today confirm the date for a general election - and signal the end of the longest-lasting government in the peacetime history of Ireland.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will today confirm the date for a general election - and signal the end of the longest-lasting government in the peacetime history of his Ireland.

But as the Dail, completed the final day of its present session last night, Mr Ahern hailed his period in office - which incorporated the best years of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economic boomtimes - as ‘‘a golden period for the people of this country.’’