Bertie Ahern: The teflon Taoiseach who came unstuck

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Ahern's announcement that he will resign within weeks came after many months of revelations and accusations centring on up to a dozen mini-scandals and unsatisfactorily explained financial transactions. For years Ahern was known as the Teflon Taoiseach, since none of the numerous allegations about Fianna Fail ever seemed to cause him personal damage. Ahern's former girlfriend, for example, testified that he drove her to a bank in Dublin's O'Connell Street so she could nip in and withdraw £50,000 sterling in cash. Ahern came from a staunchly republican family – his father was a member of the 3rd Cork Brigade of the IRA during Ireland's War of Independence – but he was a pragmatist in all things and, in tune with general opinion in the Irish Republic, he left the goal of a united Ireland to the future, and concentrated first on silencing the guns.