Bertie Ahern has handed in his notice to the President. And so comes to an end an era. Apart from Gerry Adams, who has effectively departed anyway, Bertie Ahern was the last of the Good Friday Agreement leaders to leave. He follows in the footsteps of Hume, Trimble and Blair.Of course, now begins a new era in Irish politics, north and south. Peter Robinson is to take over at the helm of the DUP and we already have Gordon Brown installed as British Prime Minister. The recent problems for the latter will undoubtedly raise questions about whether his two counterparts in Ireland will have similar problems following in the footsteps of such high-profile predecessors. It will be a while yet before we know, with no elections on either side of the border scheduled until next year. In the...
In
DUP,
SDLP,
Peter Robinson,
Gerry Adams,
Sinn Féin,
Fianna Fáil,
David Trimble,
Bertie Ahern,
Gordon Brown,
Tony Blair,
John Hume,
President,
Brian Cowen,
Taoiseach