Ahern: Government should have acted earlier to prevent bailout

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is criticising Brian Cowen's handling of the economic crisis.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has criticised Brian Cowen's handling of the economic crisis.

In an exclusive interview with the Irish News of the World today, Mr Ahern says the Government should have acted in the summer to prevent the need for the bailout, and that Brian Cowen should have communicated more with the public.

Deputy News Editor with the paper Declan Ferry said Mr Ahern had recalled that when he was Taoiseach, "he felt it was important to speak to the people of the country every day, on whatever the issue of the day was" and that when Brian Cowen took over as Taoiseach "he took up a different strategy and spoke to the people a lot less".

Mr Ahern announced on Thursday last that he was retiring from the Dáil.

But Mr Ferry said Bertie Ahern has not ruled out running for President:

"He did concede that with Fianna Fáil's standing the polls right now, it would be difficult for a Fianna Fáil candidate to be successful," he said, "but…he's still saying that it is something that he would like to do, that he'd like a crack at it, and he'll see how things pan out during the year."