Bertie still only chasing the big boys but his financial modesty is ruined

Ahern’s oft self-declared financial modesty is in tatters these days. This man of simple tastes — who wants nothing more than a few pints of Bass, a stroll through the (free-to-enter) Botanic Gardens and the occasional trip to Old Trafford — is far more interested in money than he ever let on.

AN independent TV company is making a programme for RTÉ at present that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern would be best advised not to watch when it is broadcast, probably at the end of this year, in case it drives him mad.

The programme is to be a ‘list’ of the 50 top-earning people in Ireland, a follow-up to a similar effort last year that detailed the 50 richest people in the country. Despite all the fuss about Ahern’s new salary of e310,000 per year he hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of featuring in this RTÉ production.