Patrick Bartholemew Ahern (Irish: Pádraig Parthalán Ó hEachtairn) (born September 12, 1951), commonly called Bertie Ahern, has served as the tenth Taoiseach of Ireland since 1997.
- 'I've looked up every tree in North Dublin.' (speaking of his investigations into Ray Burke 's past)
- 'This is a day we should treasure - a day when agreement and accommodation have replaced days of difference and division.' (April 11, 1998 - the day the Good Friday Agreement was signed)
- 'We are not going to apologise for any small role we may have played in helping to remove a dictator who made his people suffer for 20 years, carried out horrific acts and didn't care about democracy. He is gone now, and thank God for that.' (May, 2003 - speaking of the war in Iraq)
- 'We were always dead against the war.' (December, 2003)
- 'To the people of Europe who are joining us today in the European Union I extend the hand of friendship...Today marks the triumph of your determination and perseverance over the legacy of history. For Europe, today marks the closure of one chapter and the opening of another new and exciting chapter in its long history.' (May 1, 2004 - European Union enlargement)
- 'I'm one of the last socialists left in Irish politics.' (December, 2004)
- 'What they were up to in those days were kept for the future. I'm not sure I know how legal it was...but anyway...ha ha ha.' (March 15, 2005 - Visiting the Tipperary Hill Irish neighborhood in Syracuse, New York )
