Bertie Ahern: The Man Who Blew the Boom: Power & Money by Keena Colm

Author:Keena, Colm [Keena, Colm]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: -
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan
Published: 2011-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

Ahern was far from being the type of public representative who suddenly begins appearing on people’s doorsteps once an election has been called. A Friday evening knock on the door on a winter’s night, with election day years away, was not at all an unusual event, even when Ahern was Taoiseach. One Friday evening he knocked on this writer’s door, looking particularly well dressed. The next day’s newspapers featured photographs of him attending a meeting of EU leaders in Bonn.

As well as recognising the importance of canvassing in winning votes, Ahern appeared to like it and to draw encouragement and energy from it. Once in the Taoiseach’s office he transferred his practice in Dublin Central to the national stage. For the entire period of his first Government he devoted all the Thursdays and Fridays he could to canvassing, subjecting himself to schedules that would exhaust a younger man.

Opposition is always a difficult task, but in the late 1990s the circumstances confronting Fine Gael and the Labour Party were particularly challenging. Pat Rabbitte cites the halving of the capital gains tax rate as an example of the difficulties his party faced. The Labour Party opposed the cut, arguing that it was an inequitable measure and one that meant that labour was being taxed at a much higher rate than dealing in assets. However, a result of the cut was that capital gains tax receipts to the exchequer shot up. When the Labour Party complained, Ahern and McCreevy would cite the improved exchequer figures for the tax, trumping the equity issue with the size of the figures. For Rabbitte,

it was perfectly logical that the yield would shoot up, because there was so much pent-up demand in a growing economy and so many guys prepared to cash in their chips. So there was an initial flood of money. And, you know, it made it difficult.

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