Cowen: Retiring Ahern the 'consummate politician of our generation'

Brian Cowen has been leading tributes to former Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil TD Bertie Ahern following the announcement that he is to bow out of politics.

Mr Ahern told a gathering of his local O'Donovan Rossa Fianna Fáil cumann in Dublin last night that he will not contest the General Election.

He said he had always planned to retire when he was 60 and he will be hitting that milestone in September.

Mr Ahern also told the gathering that the North's peace process was his proudest moment.

The Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the announcement marked the end of an era, and said Bertie Ahern was "the consummate politician of our generation".

Mr Ahern said he planned to spend his retirement "in the gym" and watching Sky Sports.

Speaking to reporters after his announcement, he said he was looking forward to the new year.

He said that if he could have changed one thing it would have been the banking crisis, but no one "from an economist to a journalist" advised him of an impending problem, "never once", he insisted.

The former Taoiseach said he believed Fianna Fáil would do better in the election than opinion polls suggest, and that he would campaign for his constituency colleague in the upcoming election.