Ahern retires before people can boot him out

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has announced that he will not seek re-election in the next General Election.

Ahern is the latest high profile FF TD to announce his retirement, leading many to believe that the Fianna Fail party is facing near extinction in the 2011 election.

Asked by reporters if he intended to run for the Presidency, Bertie replied: “I don’t know. I honestly haven’t decided that.” Asked if he was ruling out running, he said: “No, not tonight, everyone would love to be in the Áras. Only one person will end up there.”

Asked if he had any regrets, he said: “If I had seen the banking crisis coming. Nobody advised me, no economist, all those people now writing books saying ‘I told you so’ – none of them.”
On Anglo Irish Bank, he said: “I can honestly say that not once did anyone or any delegation that came in to see me ever say, ‘Watch out for Anglo’ . . . I wish they had have.”