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Friday, July 17, 2015 €1(60p NI) you liar yesterday told Banking Inquiry he didn’t have ‘much interaction’ with property developers. The pictures below clearly show the truth... and illustrate his contempt for both the AND the

By Ferghal Blaney and Kevin Keane Developer links: Bertie with Gayle Killilea and Seán THE Irish Daily Mail Dunne. And today exposes the brazen below, from left, with Bernard dishonesty of Bertie McNamara, Ahern’s self-pitying evi- Johnny Ronan dence at the Banking and Seán Inquiry. Mulryan As the disgraced former sought to blame everyone but himself for the crash, which ruined the lives of so many, he repeatedly denied that he had fuelled the prop- erty boom because he was too close to developers and builders. REPORTS AND ANALYSIS PAGES 6, 7, 8, 9

And in testimony reminiscent of St Peter before the cock crowed, Mr Ahern even denied that he had a ‘close rela- tionship’ with developers, insisting he personally never had ‘much interaction’ with them. But as our pictures show, the truth – as so often is the case with Mr Ahern – is the exact opposite. The ex-Fianna Fáil leader, who was famously ruled to have lied on oath to the Mahon Tribunal, was friendly with a number of the biggest developers of the entire Celtic Tiger period. He was particularly close to Seán Dunne, the former ‘Baron of Ballsbridge’ and was invited to the builder’s €1.5mil- lion Italian wedding to former gossip Turn to Page 6 Page  BERTIE AT THE INQUIRY Irish Daily Mail, Friday, July 17, 2015 Dunner, you and me go way back

Continued from Page One Bertie hug: The columnist Gayle Killilea. Mr Dunne, former who is being pursued through the And now. Let taoiseach with courts by NAMA, was a vocal and developer prominent supporter of Mr Ahern before and after he was forced from Johnny Ronan office in 2008. me quote that in in 2010 But Mr Ahern was also friendly with onetime giants of the property world such as Bernard McNamara, Seán great leader... Mulryan and Johnny Ronan. He was even reportedly on the guestlist for the wedding of Mr Dunne to Ms Killilea in 2002 aboard Aristotle eh, meself Onassis’s former yacht Christina O. He didn’t attend but reportedly called Mr Dunne during the wedding Bertie Ahern plagia- speeches to tell him, ‘Dunner, you rised himself at the and I go back a long way. I wish I Inquiry yesterday. could be there. I’m sorry I couldn’t The former taoi- come but I would have been more seach’s autobiogra- trouble to you than I’d be worth.’ phy – co-written with Mr Dunne and Ms Killilea were also US academic Richard among the handful of guests who wit- nessed what was considered, at the Aldous – listed a time, to be one of Mr Ahern’s finest series of his eco- moments – when he addressed the nomic achievements joint US Houses of Congress on when it was pub- April 30, 2008. lished in 2009. In a newspaper interview to pro- After it’s launch, it mote his 2009 autobiography, Mr became a bestseller at home, but it Ahern heaped praised on Mr Dunne failed to light up international markets. and described the developer’s Nonetheless the tome, entitled Bertie ill-fated plans for a diamond-shaped skyscraper in Ballsbridge as ‘imagi- Ahern: the Autobiography, won him the native’. He added: ‘He’s lost a lot of chance to make a pitch at rehabilitation money on it. Seán’s just one of the in TV and radio interviews. guys. I know a lot of them, like [Jim- But yesterday chunks of it were regur- my] Flynn, [Noel] O’Flaherty and gitated in his Opening Statement. the Baileys.’ Somehow it seemed to chime with Mr Elaborating on his relationship with Ahern’s former claim on his website and the Baileys, he added: ‘You meet the in his official Government CV, that he Baileys at Croke Park every time you go there. You can’t avoid getting a had attended the London School of Eco- slap on the back going in from them. nomics, which he never did. Most of these guys lost their shirt. I Instead, he did a short course in book- feel sorry for them. You know, they keeping at the College of Commerce, employed 270,000 people in the Irish Rathmines in Dublin. economy.’ At the conclusion of his opening state- Meanwhile, the former taoiseach’s ment yesterday, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty told him: ‘Maybe you’ll start by explaining why parts of your opening ‘It rained in Galway statement to the Banking Inquiry are so we had a tent’ taken directly, word for word, from your autobiography?’ Bertie replied ‘Because that was my relationship with Johnny Ronan was position when I did my autobiography so ‘close’ that the pair were pictured and I haven’t changed the hugging at the opening of the Con- position. I’m consistent.’ vention centre on Dublin in 2010. Asked if he hadn’t reflected on those Much of the questioning at yester- day’s inquiry centred on Mr Ahern’s positions as time passed, he replied: ‘I relationship with developers. haven’t changed my position.’ In particular, committee members focused on the Galway Tent, where many wealthy builders paid thou- mara and Michael O’Flynn along with opers] but I tended to have an on his watch as taoiseach, which his admiration for his successors, sands of euro to attend functions Ken MacDonald, of Hooke and Mac- official present,’ Mr Ahern added. worsened structural weaknesses in including the current - alongside Fianna Fáil politicians Donald, one of the country’s leading Mr Mulryan’s company Ballymore the economy, leading to the historic Labour Government, for showing ‘com- including Mr Ahern. auctioneering firms. Estates donated more than €7,000 to downturn. mitment and courage,’ in following When Labour’s Senator Susan The memo showed that the issues Fianna Fáil between 2005 and 2006. ‘Of course that saddened me and I through on bailout commitments. O’Keeffe asked him what people had of ‘first-time buyers,’ the ‘rental And in 2011, Mr Ahern made a series He also said the Construction got for the price of their ticket into sector’ and ‘social and affordable of trips to China with the developer Industry of Ireland was a particularly the tent, he tried to laugh it off. housing’ were supposed to be on the at the invitation of the Ireland China ‘Of course, I made strong lobby group whose represent- ‘Well, it nearly always rained in Gal- agenda. Co-operation Council. atives he met on many occasions. way, so at least there was a tent,’ Mr Mr Ahern said: ‘That particular one At the time, Mr Mulryan was some mistakes’ ‘The CIF was like the IFA [Irish Ahern replied, laughing. was about affordable housing. involved in negotiations with the Farmers Association], anytime there Senator O’Keeffe said she was They were advocating that they authorities there as he sought to was anything around, they were in,’ being serious, and asked again. had a social conscience, very little buy in to the rapidly growing Jiang- wish the recession did not happen,’ Mr Ahern said. ‘Food, a bit of fun, some people happened out of it. bei industrial zone. he told the inquiry. He was asked by Fine Gael’s Kieran even met their wives,’ he said. ‘I could understand how it could Mr Ahern admitted there was an He praised the ‘Trojan work’ of Irish O’Donnell what he believed his main Ms O’Keeffe was clearly not satis- look [to have a meeting with devel- ‘over-reliance’ on the property sector people in recent times and expressed mistakes or regrets from his time in fied with this reply either, prompting her to say, ‘I didn’t know Fianna Fáil was running a dating agency.’ Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins challenged Mr Ahern on his ‘close ‘I’m sorry for the suicide remark... but I was trying to be positive’ relationship with developers’ but the former taoiseach replied sharply: ‘I didn’t have a close relationship for a BERTIE Ahern yesterday said that he of Trade Unions conference in Bun- mostly been ‘a sharp intake of when things were very tight. I was start’, before going on to say that it regretted stating in the summer of doran, Co. Donegal, when he told breath among other delegates’. Mr always giving a positive message.’ was always his policy to get more 2007 that he was surprised his eco- delegates he didn’t share the anal- Ahern was reminded of his remarks The former Fianna Fáil leader houses built. nomic critics didn’t commit ysis that ‘we should get up every by Pearse Doherty yesterday, who remarked rhetorically: ‘If I was However, Mr Higgins then told the inquiry that research produced to suicide. day and try to talk ourselves asked how he reconciled this with going out giving a negative or the inquiry earlier this year by aca- He told the Banking Inquiry: ‘I had down’. his opening statement that he was downbeat message, then what demic Elaine Byrne had shown that two very good friends who died He referred to ‘merchants of open to receiving contrary views hope was there for the rest of us? I of €1.8million donated to Fianna Fáil from suicide in the Nineties. I should doom’ and then remarked: ‘Sitting during his time as taoiseach. was always talking about the glass from 1997 to 2007 – and this excluded never have said that, and three on the sideline or the fence, crib- He responded: ‘In my entire polit- being half full. all donations or contributions under minutes after I came off the stage bing and moaning is lost ical life, I think from the time I was ‘And even when the glass is full, a €5,000 – 35 per cent, or €635,970, had that day, I apologised.’ opportunity. Lord Mayor [of Dublin, 1986] lot of people in this country want it come from ‘property interests.’ One of those who took his own life ‘In fact I don’t know how people through to being minister for lots to be half-empty. So I make no The inquiry also heard about a meeting between Mr Ahern and four was Gerard Brennan, Mr Ahern’s who engage in that don’t commit of things, especially labour and as apology for trying to be always high-profile individuals on July 8 solicitor, who died on May 27, 1997, suicide.’ minister for finance, I spent my positive. 2004. A memo titled ‘meetings with days after Bertie’s first election vic- The off-script comments were time giving a positive image of Ire- ‘But I had two very good friends builders’, produced as evidence, tory. An earlier suicide was a close greeted with some laughter and land, talking up the benefits of this who died from suicide in the Nine- showed that he had met three of the associate in Drumcondra. some small applause. country and explaining all that we ties. I should never have said that, country’s most well-known develop- Mr Ahern was at an Irish Congress An ICTU spokesman said there had could do, even in the late-Eighties and three minutes after I came off ers, Seán Mulryan, Bernard McNa- Irish Daily Mail, Friday, July 17, 2015 Page  Dunner, you and me go way back We’re no longer fooled by the shiftiness that’d make even Pinocchio seem a straight talker

ike a humble foot- entire passages from his statement man at Downton commentary were lifted from his autobiography. Abbey, Bertie Ahern Bertie didn’t miss a beat at his cavalier attitude to the Banking took the rear gate en- ­Inquiry being rumbled. trance into Leinster by Mary ‘I haven’t changed my position,’ House yesterday. he said. LBut as anyone who has followed Carr Listening to him tick off his the extraordinary career of one of achievements – he mentioned the most popular leaders in Irish ­everything from the new roads history knows, his low-key arrival to ­network to more spurious the Banking Inquiry was less a the Tribunal in great esteem. Nor claims about improving our schools ­gesture of meek self-effacement was the notorious and now-defunct and hospitals – a stranger than a cunning ploy to give the Galway tent any embarrassment might imagine that the entire coun- waiting media the slip. for him. try was walking around barefoot The so-called Teflon Taoiseach or ‘It was a social occasion,’ he said and in rags, dependent on the íar-Taoiseach as he once grandly accusingly to Pearse Doherty. ­poorhouse for alms when he came ­insisted was the correct form of ‘You seem to have a bit of an ob- to power. ­address for him has not changed session with the Fianna Fáil tent, as ‘All I wanted to do as taoiseach since his exile. many people have.’ was improve the lives of ordinary The meek and ingratiating Pressed later on about what people,’ he said. ­exterior was intact as he beamed at ­exactly big developers hoped to the Inquiry attendants, put them at get at the tent, if it wasn’t access to politicians, he laughed that it their ease with a breezy ‘how are you?’ was the only fundraiser that was a bit of craic. ater he volunteered that He still likes to think that he’s one ‘the last few years have step ahead of us. But it’s us – Joe ‘It was often wet in Galway, so you’d be dry in the tent,’ he said. been tough on many ordi- and Mary Public, the Ordinary Peo- nary people and that ple whom he so often referred to ‘You got a bit of food, a bit of fun. Some people met their wives-to-be breaks my heart’. yesterday – who have changed. He also confirmed, lest anyone Now we see through Bertie’s at it,’ he said. L think that his contribution to land cheery façade and his Man-of-the ‘I had no idea Fianna Fáil ran a dating agency,’ said Senator Susan speculation and profiteering would People pose. It no longer masks the indicate otherwise, that he’s still a seam of arrogance underlaid by O’Keeffe sternly. ‘I’m serious, it happened at the socialist. ­bitterness that runs through his ‘I have to say myself, my socialist character. tent,’ countered Bertie Ahern as merrily as if it was he himself that views haven’t changed either.’ It is no disguise for the incorrigi- One can only wonder then why so ble shiftiness that would make even Cupid had struck at the racecourse at Ballybrit and not the one-time many ordinary people were finan- Pinocchio appear like a straight cially devastated, forced to emi- talker. Baron of Ballsbridge Seán Dunne office were, and Mr Ahern highlight- cent of tax returns into the National who met his future wife Gayle Kil- grate and face unemployment with ed not bringing in a property tax as Pension Reserve Fund every year, His carefully crafted persona first Bertie on our side. came unstuck at the Mahon lilea there. chief among them. which he said would have given us The schoolboyish humour was He takes responsibility for many ‘I made a number [of mistakes],’ he more for a ‘rainy day’. ­Tribunal where his love of money bad decisions but firmly washes his and admiration for self-made men missing when he first took his seat told the inquiry. He also said that he regretted the in front of the committee. hands of blame for the behaviour of ‘I think I was wrong not to reverse fact that house prices had rocketed became apparent. the banks or for sponsoring light- Asked yesterday if his amnesic He read out his long opening the Rainbow [government] decision by so much. statement – part-laboured exposi- touch regulation. to stop the property tax. However, in relation to this, he put performance at that Tribunal had But even his multiple apologies compromised his leadership and he tion of the wealth of economic data ‘I should’ve stuck to my guns when more blame at the door of the banks, and expert opinion that fed into the were qualified. I came back in 1997, I could’ve taken saying that if they had not been issued a stiff denial. ‘I did make mistakes, Chairman. I ‘No, no,’ he said. ‘I think on the catastrophic policy decisions of his the hit politically.’ so bent on chasing up further government, and part-shameless admit that but so does everyone Some of the other regrets or mis- capitalisation, that ‘we wouldn’t be contrary, I kind of ignored the who governs,’ he said. ­Tribunal to my own detriment… I PR spin about the amazing surge in takes he then listed included not here today’. living standards that occurred dur- ‘Of course I apologise for my mis- reining in public expenditure in the Mr Ahern also offered an apology to didn’t realise what the game was takes but I am also pleased that I down there.’ ing his watch. dying years of his tenure up to May the people of Ireland, one that Pearse Doherty put it to him that got a lot of things right.’ 2008, not putting more than 1 per was similar to those given by many of Evidently he holds the findings of Talk about having it every way. the inquiry witnesses who had previ- ously been involved in politics or banking. But Mr Ahern’s overall tone was, ‘I’m sorry for the suicide remark... but I was trying to be positive’ that while he was apologising, he wasn’t admitting that he did that ‘If hindsight was foresight...’ The much wrong. ‘With hindsight of the stage that day, I apologised. course I would have done things dif- But what I was talking about that ferently,’ he told the committee. day was confidence. ‘I did make mistakes, I admit that, inquiry, according to Bertie-speak ‘I was saying that we had to have but so does everyone who governs. confidence, to work together, ‘I know that during my time as ‘If hindsight was foresight, I’d be ‘The Minister for Housing – he broke a ceasefire with a bomb at taoiseach, while I did not get every- and pull together. thing right I can honestly put my a billionaire – and so would you.’ happened to be my brother at that the Baltic Exchange.) ‘Like lots of things in life, people hand on my heart and say I did try (To Pearse Doherty TD. He would stage…’ forget what I was trying to say in my very best to do the right thing by have known the results of horse (Bertie personally appointed his ‘We could have draggled the rest of that speech.’ the Irish people,’ Mr Ahern said. races in advance, for one thing.) brother Noel Ahern as minister for ourselves on.’ He denied Mr Doherty’s conten- ‘Of course, I apologise for my mis- housing in 2002. He remains his (Despite a high-dependence on the tion that he was trying to close takes but I’m also pleased that I did ‘The teacher marrying the nurse, brother.) construction sector, had Lehmans down criticism, even at that late get a lot of things right. or the nurse marrying the teacher, not collapsed in 2008.) stage. ‘In my time as taoiseach, what I as it is now, to be politically ‘London – the Isle of Dog [sic] and wanted to do with budgets was correct.’ wharf, wharf, Canary Wharf, ‘It generally rained during race ‘No, no,’ he responded. ‘I spent improve the quality of life for ordi- hours and hours in the chamber nary people and provide services (Something about the housing where the Troubles were.’ week in Galway.’ of this parliament, that it is a priv- that our country did not have before,’ ambitions of the average ‘Joe and (Explaining tax-designated areas to (Explaining why people flocked to ilege for you and I to be a mem- he added. Mary,’ as he later put it during keep some Irish development the Fianna Fáil tent at the ber of, and God, I took criticism.’ Comment – Page 14 exchanges.) money ‘on our own patch.’ The IRA racecourse in Ballybrit.) [email protected] Page 14 Irish Daily Mail, Friday, July 17, 2015

c o m m e n t The N11 was our Nothing changes, not even Bertie’s words TO anyone who saw the breadth and cynicism of Bertie Ahern’s lies at the Mahon Tribunal, his self-serving, deceit- Route 66 to happy ful and mendacious evidence at the Oire- achtas Banking Inquiry yesterday was to be expected. And yet it is still a shock that a former taoiseach should be so brazen in his false attempts to exculpate himself over the crash which ruined so many lives. The most obvious lie was when he told the inquiry: ‘I don’t believe that I person- past... when even ally had much interaction with property developers.’ In fact, the evidence is clear: Mr Ahern was very close to a number of leading property developers, some of whom helped destroy the economy. Chief amongst these was Seán Dunne, the one-time ‘Baron of Ballsbridge’ who led the way in paying insane prices for rainy days in silver real estate – and who is being pursued through the courts by NAMA on behalf of the Irish taxpayer. It was in Mr Ahern’s Fianna Fáil Gal- way tent that Mr Dunne first met his wife, the former gossip columnist Gayle Killilea. Mr Ahern was invited to the cou- ple’s €1.5million Italian wedding: he pulled out only after word of his attend- sands were sunny ance leaked. Nevertheless, he phoned the couple during the wedding speeches and, according to accounts in his pet newspaper, told the groom: ‘Dunner, you and I go back a long way. I wish I could be there. I’m sorry I couldn’t come but I would have been more trouble to you OR generations of Dublin- ford too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve than I’d be worth.’ The Dunnes were also ers, the N11 was more than phoned friends in Dublin to hear the sun is pictured with Mr Ahern at the races in splitting the stones, while here in the ‘sun- 2008, and were his special guests in the just a road. It was the path ny’ Southeast, I’ve had to turn the heating British Houses of Parliament when Mr to the ‘Sunny Southeast’, on and switch on the electric blanket. Ahern made a valedictory speech. Not as legend has it, and to the And the N11 has changed too. Bray was promise of golden summers bypassed in 1991, then Newtown- much personal interaction, eh? mountkennedy, Ashford, Rathnew and Ark- And of course it wasn’t just the Dunnes: Fspent splashing about on powdery low. Stretches of it were redesignated as the Mr Ahern was regularly guest of honour sand beaches. It took us in our M11 motorway and, by 2009, it extended thousands to Brittas Bay and south past Gorey to Camolin. Silver Strand, and to countless The last dogged holdout was the stretch between Rathnew and Arklow. at a lavish Galway Races party hosted by mobile home parks in south The infamous Ballinameesda Bends, with (now bankrupt) property billionaire Ber- Wicklow and Wexford, places that a winding, narrow road through dense nard McNamara. His Galway tent hosted became suburbs for the school woodland, were followed by the Barndarrig builders such as Johnny Ronan, Seán holidays. straight, where frustrated drivers floored it Mulryan and tax cheat Mick Bailey. And The pubs and beaches were thronged with the minute they saw the horizon and often he didn’t do it purely, as he suggested visitors wearing Dublin football jerseys and undertook stupid overtaking moves. yesterday, to ensure all sectors of the greeting each other with ‘howya, bud’, and The consequences were devastating. everyone had two sets of friends – the ones philip nolan This short stretch of road claimed 33 lives economy had their say: he also did it in 25 years, making it easily one of the because the Galway tent made as much they saw all year at school, and the others who were the July and August pals. most dangerous in the country, yet bizarre as €250,000 a year for Fianna Fáil. The fact that the ‘sunny’ description logic saw other slivers of the N11 given And why do these lies matter? Because you navigated by moonlight when the bat- upgrade priority while, almost weekly, was, more often than not, utterly bogus, teries in the torch ran out. And, at night, we the context is one in which for several mattered little – even the sound of AA Roadwatch would report yet another would light small fires on the beach (it’s accident on the bends. years Bertie Ahern’s government artifi- rain beating out a rhythm on a corrugated paradise and still usually deserted, so I’m roof had an exotic magic when you were If you’ve ever heard warnings of car crash- cially sustained the building boom when not going to tell you exactly where it is) es near The Beehive, the Tap, Lil Doyle’s or they should have cooled the market. As curled up in a bunk bed in a room the size and talk all the nonsense teenagers talk, of a hutch. Jack White’s pubs, then this is the stretch late as 2007, Mr Ahern’s government was putting the world to rights over dying we’re talking about. Friends of ours had a mobile home in embers and an early dawn. abolishing stamp duty for all first-time Co. Wexford (though, in a sort of inverted buyers – a move which lured tens of thou- The only fly in the ointment was the N11. snobbery, no-one ever said they had a On sunny days, it was a car park. The Progress sands into the market, put cash into the mobile – you always just called it ‘the van’) logjam started in Shankill, got worse at the A budget was found for the road but then pockets of the developers… and left Irish and I spent many a teenage summer there. Dargle Road in Bray and, by the time you the bust came and the plan was parked society to pay the price when the crash At first, we were surrounded by adults; later, got to Rathnew, often many hours after again until late 2013. I can’t tell you how came. Mr Ahern also claimed yesterday we would head down on our own, when we leaving Dublin, you could queue for ages excited I was the first day I saw a digger that he wasn’t warned a crash was com- could get up to a little more mischief. to find parking. starting to move the earth. ing: that’s also a lie. The very people who Looking back, it was a lot more trouble As the months progressed, the culverts Dubonnet than it was worth, especially on day trips, went in, the overpasses were built, a new tried to issue that warning were the ones especially since the return journeys were he dismissed with his appalling ‘I don’t relief road was laid to take traffic away I took the pledge as a kid but, by 16, I was even worse. My dad delivered home heating from the primary route, the main surface know how they don’t commit suicide’ ready to try a drink. Scrutiny in that part of oil for Maxol for a living, and knew the was tarmacadamed, and all, it has to be jibe. This was a taoiseach who appointed the world was a great deal less rigorous than Southside and north Wicklow like the back said, in a well-planned way with a minimum personal friends to public office as fast as it was in Dublin, so one night, my pal and I of his hand, but even his shortcuts often of fuss. he would cast out anyone who dared went to the local, paralysed with nerves. were rat-runs, and if you left the beach at Last Monday at 5pm, months ahead of The barman looked at us and, instead of six, chances were you wouldn’t be home un- schedule, the new 16km stretch of road, question him. And now he wonders why the rebuke we expected, just asked: ‘What’ll more people didn’t speak up! til nine, to be smothered in calamine lotion commissioned by Wicklow County Council ye have, lads?’ – SPF cream was unheard of then, so you and built by BAM Construction, opened. It And to cap it all, Mr Ahern showed his Now, both my parents were lifelong Pio- treated burns rather than preventing is miraculous. contempt for the inquiry – and by exten- neers, so I knew absolutely nothing about them – before trying to sleep with itchy skin I timed it, and it took eight minutes and 36 sion, the citizens of Ireland – by copying alcohol, except for what my mother bought that felt like parchment. seconds to cover what used to take up to 40 and pasting chunks of his autobiography for her friends who might drop in at Christ- minutes at peak travel times. and delivering them as his opening mas. So while I was surprised by the bar- Satellite As Dublin expands, and will continue to statement. man actually looking to serve us, it can have do so, hundreds of people living in Gorey been as nothing compared to his surprise Fast-forward four decades and Co. Wex- and Arklow who work in the capital have Of course none of this changes the past. when I blurted out: ‘Two Dubonnet and ford now is my home. My wife and I bought gained an hour a day, to spend with their Mr Ahern remains a disgrace to the office whites, please!’ a holiday house in 2004 (and, yes, it’s now partners and their children, greatly improv- he held and the people he was meant to I’d say he still dines out on the story; I worth less than half what we paid), and ing the quality of their lives. represent. We must learn the lessons for know I still cringe. when we eventually separated, I moved They also can travel safely, and not be- the future. Over the years, my taste in drink became down full time. I work from home, so there come part of an AA Roadwatch bulletin, But we also shouldn’t forget that a great deal more mainstream, and sum- would be no commute for me, just regular more casualties of the bends I hope never mers in Wexford were all about pints in a driving to Dublin to see family and friends. to see again. despite all his lies – many on oath – this beer garden, or wine at the table in front of That’s not all that has changed. My friends Progress isn’t always a great thing – I miss man still receives a taxpayer-funded pen- the van. Inside, there was no electricity, so have been through a few vans since, and the gas mantle lamps and the simple sion of €134,000 a year. we would light the gas mantle lamps and the latest one has central heating and hot fun you have to make for yourself when This is a lot of money: in truth, all Ber- play cards and board games and read and water and en suite bathrooms and electric- there is no television to distract you – but tie Ahern should be getting from the listen to Micheál O’Hehir commentating on ity and satellite television and, dear God, the new road shows that progress has its State is an orange jumpsuit, three meals GAA matches on a battery-powered radio. even broadband. merits. It has made living in this part of the a day… and a close-up view of the Mount- If you needed a loo or a shower, there was The summers, if I’m truthful, have become country joyful again. a toilet block up in the sand dunes to which progressively unkind to my part of Co. Wex- All we need now is some sun. joy courtyard.