Bertie Ahern

Ahern was elected on June 26, 1997, as Ireland's Taoiseach or prime minister. He was the leader of the right-of-centre Fianna Fáil, the largest political party of Ireland and the youngest Taoiseach in Irish history. He took part in the peace negotiations that culminated, on April 10, 1998, in a historic settlement between Roman Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists, over whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom. The agreement included a reconfiguration of the political institutions of Northern Ireland, in which a new, 108-member Northern Ireland Assembly would govern Northern Ireland, ending 26 years of direct rule from London.