Ahern, Bertie definition of Ahern, Bertie in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Ahern, Bertie (əhûrn`), 1951–, Irish politician, prime minister of the Republic of Ireland (1997–). Born into a working-class family, he studied accounting at University College, Dublin. A member of Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (fē`ənə fäl)
..... Click the link for more information. , he entered the Irish parliament in 1977 and held a number of parliamentary offices. From 1986 to 1987 he was lord mayor of Dublin. Returning to national government, he served as labor minister (1987–91) and finance minister (1991–94). He became head of Fianna Fáil in 1994 and was leader of the opposition until 1997, when he succeeded John Bruton Bruton, John (br

`tən), 1947–, Irish politician, b. Dublin.
..... Click the link for more information. as prime minister, heading a Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrat coalition. Ahern helped to broker a cease-fire by the Irish Republican Army, and in 1998 he and others (including Britain's Tony Blair Blair, Tony (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair), 1953–, British politician, b. Edinburgh. An Oxford-educated lawyer, he was first elected to Parliament in 1983 as the Labour party candidate from a district in N England.
..... Click the link for more information. and America's George Mitchell Mitchell, George John, 1933–, U.S. public official, b. Waterville, Maine. An attorney in private and government practice in the 1960s and 1970s, he was a protege of Senator Edmund Muskie .
..... Click the link for more information. ) brokered a peace agreement in Northern Ireland. Ahern also has increased the republic's influence in Northern Ireland. His government was returned to office in the May, 2002, elections.

Bibliography

See biography by K. Whelan and E. Masterson (1999).