Dermot Ahern | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister for Justice and Law Reform | |
| In office 7 May 2008 – 19 January 2011 | |
| Taoiseach | Brian Cowen |
| Preceded by | Brian Lenihan (Justice, Equality and Law Reform) |
| Succeeded by | Brendan Smith |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 29 September 2004 – 7 May 2008 | |
| Taoiseach | Bertie Ahern |
| Preceded by | Brian Cowen |
| Succeeded by | Micheál Martin |
| Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources | |
| In office 6 June 2002 – 29 September 2004 | |
| Taoiseach | Bertie Ahern |
| Preceded by | Frank Fahey (Marine and Natural Resources) |
| Succeeded by | Noel Dempsey |
| Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs | |
| In office 26 June 1997 – 6 June 2002 | |
| Taoiseach | Bertie Ahern |
| Preceded by | Proinsias De Rossa (Social Welfare) |
| Succeeded by | Mary Coughlan (Social and Family Affairs) |
| Minister of State | |
| 1991–1992 | Government Chief Whip |
| 1991–1992 | Defence |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office February 1987 – February 2011 | |
| Constituency | Louth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dermot Christopher Ahern (1955-04-20)20 April 1955 (age 70) Dundalk,County Louth, Ireland |
| Political party | Fianna Fáil |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin |
Dermot Christopher Ahern[1] (born 20 April 1955) is an Irish formerFianna Fáil politician who served asMinister for Justice and Law Reform from 2008 to 2011,Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2008,Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources from 2002 to 2004,Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs from 1997 to 2002 andGovernment Chief Whip andMinister of State at the Department of Defence from 1991 to 1992. He served as aTeachta Dála (TD) for theLouth constituency from 1987 to 2011.[2]
Ahern was born inDundalk,County Louth, in 1955. He was educated at the Marist College in Dundalk and later attendedUniversity College Dublin. Afterwards, he studied at theLaw Society of Ireland and was admitted as a solicitor.
Ahern currently lives inBlackrock near Dundalk, with his wife and their two children. His pastimes include playing golf andwindsurfing. He is a former Ulster windsurfing champion.[3] Ahern is a former chairman of Rock Celtic soccer club and was also treasurer ofDundalk F.C. Supporter's Club.
Ahern was born into a family that had no association with party politics. He became involved in politics at a young age and became a member ofLouth County Council in 1979 as aFianna Fáil representative. He served on that authority until 1991 when he resigned due to the provisions of the Dual Mandate. Ahern was first elected toDáil Éireann at the1987 general election retaking the Dundalk-based Fianna Fáil seat.[4] The following year he was appointed assistant governmentchief whip byTaoiseachCharles Haughey. His Louth Fianna Fáil constituency colleague had been aMinister of State since 1987.
Three years later in 1991, the Minister for Finance,Albert Reynolds, failed in his attempt to oust Haughey as leader. Ahern, who supported Haughey, was rewarded with the post ofMinister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility as Government Chief Whip andMinister of State at the Department of Defence. During this time period Ahern played a role in the germination of the Irish peace process during secret direct talks between members ofSinn Féin,Alec Reid and members of Fianna Fáil led byMartin Mansergh. Ahern also attended as a local Fianna Fáil minister along with Richie Healy in the Redemptorist Church, Dundalk. These were secret talks and would have been denied if disclosed publicly by political opponents or the media.[5] In February 1992, Haughey was forced to resign and Albert Reynolds became party leader and Taoiseach. Ahern then became a backbencher for the entire duration of the Fianna Fáil-Labour Party government. During this time Reynolds assumed sole ownership of the Fianna Fáil strategy for the Peace Process.
In late 1994,Bertie Ahern (no relation) succeeded Reynolds as leader of Fianna Fáil. Ahern once again returned to the senior ranks of the party becoming chief whip. In 1997, he was sent to London to check out rumours that another senior party member,Ray Burke, had received a payment from Joseph Murphy. The claim was denied and Burke was appointedMinister for Foreign Affairs two days later following the return to power of Fianna Fáil. Burke later served a jail sentence for corruption including the Murphy bribe. Ahern has since taken a stance on the issue of political corruption in Ireland publicly calling for an outright ban of corporate and trade union donations to political parties.[6] This is now Fianna Fáil party policy. In the1997 Irish presidential electionMary McAleese sought and won the Fianna Fáil nomination at the expense of Albert Reynolds. Ahern was a prominent supporter of her candidacy and in the election she received over 50% of the first preference vote in Louth as she did in each Border constituency.
In 2009 Ahern'sreligious beliefs were questioned, especially in the way that his religious ideology may influence his political standpoint.[7]
Following the1997 general election, a Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats entered office, and Ahern was appointedMinister for Community, Social and Family Affairs. Ahern introduced the largest social welfare and pension increases in Irish history. He also achieved pension rights for Irish people who had emigrated from Ireland prior to 1953. The Accounts Section of the department was decentralised to Dundalk from Dublin during his term incorporating the former SWLO in Barrack Street, Dundalk, which were merged into the same building as Dundalk Revenue Commissioners, to centralise service provision and staffing requirements under the one-roof. Ahern personally opened the new offices to the public while Minister.
Following the return of the government at the2002 general election, Ahern was appointedMinister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. He was critical of the main telecommunications providereircom. He introduced a system of Policy Directions to the telecoms regulator mandating, amongst other things, Flat Rate Internet Access. He devised a Broadband Action Plan which entailed the government building an alternative fibre infrastructure and co-location facilities. He sanctioned a reform package for public service broadcasting in Ireland and introduced a Charter for Ireland's national broadcasterRTÉ. He introduced a programme to provide free broadband internet access to schools. He secured EU recognition and protection of theIrish Box, an area of Irishterritorial waters out of bounds to Spanish and Portuguese fishermen.
Following acabinet reshuffle in 2004, Ahern was appointed asMinister for Foreign Affairs, the first Louth TD to hold that position sinceFrank Aiken in the 1960s. Shortly into his tenure in April 2005, Ahern was appointed one of four special envoys for United Nations reform by theUN Secretary GeneralKofi Annan.
Ahern spoke of the Third Phase in Irish foreign policy which he called "Active Neutrality". This was a vision of non-aligned Ireland taking up its international responsibilities by acting as a bridge between the developed and developing world, and by acting as a world leader in conflict and disasters. In this regard he took an extremely outspoken line on thecrisis in Darfur, calling on the international community to 'wake up to the reality of rape, murder and destruction in the region.[8] More recently Ahern has announced the establishment of an Irish Volunteer Corps and a Rapid Response Corps which would harness existing expertise amongst the Irish public to assist in the developing world.[9] He has stated that, in foreign policy terms, 'the single greatest, economic, environmental, geopolitical issue now facing us is climate change.'[10]
As Foreign Minister, Ahern was heavily involved in theNorthern Ireland peace process.[11] In 2006, he and several government leaders met regarding peace talks for Northern Ireland.[11] Ahern met with theSecretary of State for Northern IrelandPeter Hain,US Ambassador to IrelandJames C. Kenny,US Ambassador to the United KingdomRobert H. Tuttle, the leadership of each of the main political parties involved in the process for peace, as well as threeUnited States Congress members,James T. Walsh,Brian Higgins, andTim Murphy.[11] At the time of the meeting, there was a confirmation announcement of theIrish Republican Army (IRA) weapons decommissioning.[11]
Ahern voiced concern over the2006 Lebanon War.[12] A shipment of bombs being sent toIsrael by theUnited States was banned using Irish airspace or airfields.[13]
Like many others in his party, therefore, Ahern describes himself as a republican, and made an associated statement regarding his self-identification at the 2006Seán Moylan commemoration inCork. At the 2006 Moylan commemoration, Ahern was quoted, stating: "As an Irish Republican, my main personal and political goal is to live to see theunity of Ireland".[14] In Dundalk he has been a regular attendee at Dundalk & District Old IRA Commemorative events at Easter-time.
He led a campaign to secure a path to permanent residency for the 25,000 to 50,000 undocumented Irish citizens resident in the United States. He also introduced free passports for Irish senior citizens and had called for a comprehensive ban on the use of cluster munitions. Ahern was the first government Minister to call for a constitutional referendum on the issues arising from theSupreme Court judgment on statutory rape, five months before it became government policy.[15]
After a call by theIrish Human Rights Commission that the Irish government inspect aircraft supposed to be a part of the USextraordinary rendition program, Ahern rejected these proposals. In a leakeddiplomatic cable written by the US Ambassador to IrelandThomas C. Foley, Foley reported that Ahern thought it "might not be a bad idea to allow the random inspection of a few planes to proceed, which would provide cover if a rendition flight ever surfaced. He seemed quite convinced that at least three flights involving renditions had refuelled at Shannon Airport before or after conducting renditions elsewhere".[16][17]
Ahern was appointedMinister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on 7 May 2008, by the newTaoiseachBrian Cowen. On 29 April 2009, Ahern proposed an amendment to the Defamation Bill adding the crime ofblasphemy to the statute book.[18] The amendment was passed in the Dáil on 9 July 2009, with only an hour of the debate set aside for the bill, and was then narrowly passed by theSeanad the next day by walk-through vote, after being defeated in the initial electronic vote.[19] This amendment was criticised by many within the public sphere, free speech campaigners and some ministers of European Union member states.[20]
Ahern said that in March 2010 he would propose to the cabinet aconstitutional amendment deleting the constitutional prohibition onblasphemy when the children's rights amendment comes up. Ahern was opposed to a stand-alone referendum that would have cost €3 or €4 million, his spokesman added. Ahern wrote inThe Irish Times: "My intention is to remove the possibility of prison sentences and private prosecutions for blasphemy, currently provided for in Irish law. The only credible alternative to this move is a blasphemy referendum, which I consider, in the current circumstances, a costly and unwarranted diversion."[21]
Ahern published the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 on 26 June 2009.[22] This was enacted as theCivil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010.
He received theMurphy Report intochild sexual abuse in theDublin Diocese in June 2009.[23] Most of the report was published on 26 November 2009 of that year, though parts were not, due to names that were undergoing prosecution.
As part of areshuffle in March 2010, the Equality affairs section of the department was moved to theDepartment of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs.
On 15 November 2010, he described as 'fiction' the speculation that Ireland was about to seek financial aid from theEuropean Union. He told RTÉ's The Week in Politics that 'nothing is going on at the direction of Government in relation to this.'[24] On 21 November 2010, theTaoiseachBrian Cowen confirmed that Ireland had formally requested financial support from the European Union'sEuropean Financial Stability Facility and theInternational Monetary Fund.[25][26]
On 30 November 2010, he announced he would not contest his Dáil seat at the2011 general election, as he hasrheumatoid arthritis, and said it was a "painful medical condition necessitating heavy medication".[27] He retired to a combined annual ministerial and TD's pension of €128,300.[27] He resigned as Minister for Justice and Law Reform on 19 January 2011.[28]
During the debate on decriminalisation of homosexuality in the Dáil in 1993, he agreed with a statement byBrendan McGahon which reads: "Homosexuality is a departure from normality and while homosexuals deserve our compassion they do not deserve our tolerance" and who described homosexuals as being "like lefthand drivers driving on the right-hand side of the road".
Ahern himself added: "Will we eventually see the day in this country when, as has happened in the USA, homosexuals will seek the right to adopt children? We should think seriously about this possibility". Following his appointment as Minister responsible for equality, Ahern refused to be drawn on the matter and did not give an answer as to whether he still held these opinions.[29]
Ahern was responsible for introducing legislation recognisingcivil partnerships forsame-sex couples. He declared the legislation (Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010), which passed into law in July 2010, as "one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation to be enacted since independence".[30]
Dermot Ahern denied claims that he had made representations to former Minister for JusticeMichael McDowell on behalf ofMichael McKevitt, who has been convicted of directing terrorism.[31][32] He said that had merely forwarded an email from McKevitts' wife,Bernadette Sands McKevitt, who was a constituent in 2004.[31][32]
His brother-in-law, Shane Coleman, is currently a journalist with Newstalk FM.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Government Chief Whip 1991–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Minister of State at the Department of Defence 1991–1992 | ||
| Preceded byas Minister for Social Welfare | Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs 1997–2002 | Succeeded byas Minister for Social and Family Affairs |
| Preceded byas Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources | Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources 2002–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs 2004–2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform | Minister for Justice and Law Reform 2008–2011 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
