Retirement From Politics
On 30 December 2010, in a speech to his party cumann in the Dublin Central constituency, he announced that he would not be contesting the 2011 general election. Ahern said he had made it clear as far back as 2002 that it was always his plan to step down as a TD before he was 60.
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.”
Referring to the “great economic storm” currently under way in Ireland, he warned against excessive pessimism:
“Some gains have been lost, but in truth many remain. I dearly wish there was no crisis. I realise that it would have been better if some things had been done differently, but I will not denigrate the good that has been done,” he added.
However an independent review of the operation of the Department of Finance during Ahern's tenure in government and its performance over the course of a decade, by Canadian expert Rob Wright, revealed how repeated warnings to the government of the dangers of the budgetary policies pursued during the boom years were repeatedly ignored.
Ahern, who was Taoiseach for 11 years, declined to comment on that report compiled by Canadian expert Rob Wright.
Ahern will receive an estimated €135,000 as a combined ministerial and TD’s pension.
Shortly after announcing his retirement from politics, Ahern attacked his successor Brian Cowen over Cowen's failure to communicate with the public and criticised the Government's handling of the EU/IMF bailout. This attack broke the convention that former Taoisigh should not publicly criticise their successors.
The former FF leader said in January 2011 there was no hope of Fianna Fáil retaining two seats in his Dublin Central constituency. None of his party candidates were subsequently elected in his former constituency.
He receives annual pension payments of €152,331.
Read more about this topic: Bertie Ahern
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