Final visit to Aras brings it all back home for Taoiseach
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern hands in his seal of office to President Mary McAleese at Aras an Uachtarain last night
BERTIE AHERN'S last official act as Taoiseach was to formally sign his resignation letter for the President at Aras an Uachtarain last night.
Mr Ahern thus closed his 11 years as Taoiseach where it all began -- having signed in and received his seal of office from President Mary Robinson on a similar summer's day in 1997.
Three Cabinets led by Mr Ahern have received their seals of office in the same setting, the last two presented with the formal trappings of power by President Mary McAleese, now Ireland's longest-serving leader, having taken office within a few months of Mr Ahern in November 1997.
Warmth
There was a warmth in the last welcome from the President for the Taoiseach as he arrived at the north entrance to the Aras, Mr Ahern having long ago inspired his party to back her for the Fianna Fail nomination for office -- ahead of former taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
Mr Ahern may yet be back in the park in a different role, at least if the Rev Ian Paisley is a good forecaster. But yesterday it was all business as he buttoned his jacket and walked past photographers to mount the steps for a handclasp with Her Excellency.
The pair then walked past a large Jacinta Feeney painting entitled "Unseen and Unheard," to enter the State Drawing Room between busts of poet James Clarence Mangan (1803-49) and liberator Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847).
After a short meeting behind closed doors, the President led the Taoiseach into the State reception room, where the formal instrument for his surrender of power had been set up on an occasional table in front of two blue-backed chairs.
Aras staff watched from a discreet distance as Mr Ahern took the pen in his left hand and signed his adieu to all that. As he stood to hand over his resignation, enclosed in a blue folder, a staffer muttered one of the little-known facts about the best-known person in the country: "I never knew he was left- handed." The now former taoiseach, deemed under Constitutional Article 28 to continue in the half-light of office until his replacement today, turned and smiled for a barrage of camera flashes, shaking hands with the President.
Chitchat
The pair made small talk as the lenses drank it all in, the chitchat inaudible apart from one reference by Mr Ahern to his eleven years in office.
The pair withdrew after half a minute in all, to take tea and counsel together for the last time. TV camera crews, photographers and journalists withdrew unseen along a connecting corridor lined with the busts of past presidents.
They scurried under chandeliers and past Lafranchini stucco panels to set up again outside for what was expected to be the Last Doorstep. There the media bank waited patiently for Mr Ahern to reappear. .
He emerged with the President, and took his last farewell from the portico as camera motor drives whirred and shutters snapped. The Head of State faded discreetly into the background as Mr Ahern took a step towards his car, and the questions started.
"Have you any Cabinet advice for Brian Cowen?" Mr Ahern, literally entering the sunset, hesitated. "A few words, Taoiseach," they implored.
"Well I do have a few words," he said, turning past minders.
"Thanks a lot, everybody. I just want to thank you all for following me for so many years, and to thank you for your courtesy. Slan."
And with that he was gone.
- Senan Molony Deputy Political Editor
