OUTSIDE POLITICS:Almost four months out of office and enjoying the new experience of an uninterrupted holiday, our former taoiseach finds many new perspectives have opened up, writes Bertie Ahern
THIS IS THE first August in over 20 years that I have not returned back to a job either as a minister, leader of the opposition or as taoiseach. Summer was always a time to relax and to wind down.
But it was also a time to plan for a busy year ahead. It was a time, especially as taoiseach, when holidays were invariably interrupted with burning issues and even real crises. The day of the Omagh bomb on August 15th, 1998, is seared forever on my mind. It was both a
political crisis and a human calamity.
If, since then, nearly every summer brought a supposed crisis of one kind or another, the lesson of that day has always reminded me that the word "crisis" is one of the most overused in media and in politics. However, events always had to be dealt with and I cannot remember a single summer holiday when a
large part of the time was not spent on the telephone. But that was then and this is now. This summer was a holiday that was uninterrupted by events. Unlearning the habits of a lifetime is a challenge, especially if life has been so demanding.
Wondering what to do or planning to do new things was a challenge I seldom had to meet. The years unfolded and events took their course. I planned as best I could, I reacted when I had to and I worked all the hours I was sent. The job was such a large part of life that there was very little left. That was a
challenge and it was a cushion. If being taoiseach means that the buck stops with you, it also means having a great deal of support. If there was meeting after meeting, there was also well-written file after
well-written file explaining the issues. If there was an interminable stream of political events, there were also committed civil servants and the small group of advisers who were with me from the beginning to follow the flow of events around the clock.
When I think of that small political team and all the late-night and early-morning calls, over 13 years as party leader and nearly 11 as taoiseach, we probably spent a lot more time together than we did at home or with our families. It was an all-consuming and intensely exciting life. There was no boundary between weekday and weekend, or between day and night, or between day on and day off. It was the life I had chosen and the life which I was enormously privileged to enjoy. It was a democratic mandate to fulfil.
But it was also a very different life than that chosen or enjoyed by the great majority of people reading this article today. Politics is very important to most Irish people. We are a very politically aware nation. However, it is not the stuff of daily conversation or preoccupation. There is a vast hinterland of
life out there beyond politics. It is to be found in the enjoyment of time itself, in the luxury of choosing a book to read or of planning for next weekend. Most especially, it is there on the spur of the moment.
I am beginning to realise that I can actually say to a friend, "I'll see you tonight". Or drop everything because I know that most things can wait, at least for a while, and pop in to see my growing grandsons. The straitjacket of schedule is gone. So, too, of course is the comfort blanket of business.
In 3½ months, I have only begun to sense the enormous change of life that is under way. For just a little while, it was almost as if very little had changed at all. Prior engagements still had to be kept, an enormous stream of calls and letters had to be answered - but the housekeeping of even a major change does not last long, let alone forever.
This has been a time of catching up with friends and family, of thinking about the future and about adjusting to a very different life. Enjoying Kerry all day every day was deeply relaxing and looking from afar at events like the Olympics and the Democratic Party convention reminded me again of truths
I believe I always knew. Sport is the great elixir of community and of life. Like art, it is an experience that lifts us out of the ordinary and instils an inspirational sense of what might be possible. If all my great
paintings are in my mind's eye and are works in progress on a football field, I do have a sense that the deepest reservoir of our wealth is in our sport and in our culture. This summer I have appreciated that again, not just as a political position but as something that, once again, I actually personally feel.
This week at the Democratic convention we heard inspiring speeches. The campaign has only begun and our great friends, the American people, have yet to make their decision. But already events are
unfolding. It is truly a turning of the page of history that an African American is the nominee of his
party. It was another crashing through of the glass ceiling when Hillary Clinton garnered not just 18 million votes but the lasting respect of friend and foe alike for the strength of her resolve.
John McCain has yet to make his case and the great issues of this election have yet to be tested. But, regardless of the ultimate outcome, change has been effected and progress has been achieved. The burden of discrimination and the legacy of inequality may not be entirely lifted but they have surely
been diminished.
And so, slowly, a new perspective opens up for me. It is one in which I am forced, to my own benefit, to learn to live again without the scaffolding of office and to see again without the prism of politics.
Away from the daily din of events, I am forcibly reminded of the purpose of politics - the pursuit of progress. Nobody in politics lasts for long who does not enjoy the thrill of the chase. But it is not for the chase that we are elected. It is for the deeds we do and for the hope we can give.
If these are difficult times, I believe we have the leadership to bring us through. The achievements of the Irish people over the past decade will not diminish or disappear. The confidence and the blessing of peace; the progress delivered in one National Development Plan and the unfolding promise of another; the economic boom of nearly a million more people at work: all are ballast to weather the storm.
We are now a country with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 23 per cent. In 1990, it was 100 per cent and 70 per cent of income tax was needed just to service the cost of our borrowings. Since then taxes have been reduced and our system has been made much fairer.
If caution is now required, so too is perspective. Keeping confidence is essential.
I now have the opportunity to share the experience I have gained and the gains Ireland has made through a new role in the World Economic Forum. I am looking forward to it. I also have the opportunity to do more and to work harder for the community in my own constituency.
Acres of print and hours of talk are devoted to the game of politics, but playing the game only serves a purpose when it serves a greater cause. If the daily tide of politics that was the staple of my life for so long is not a source of constant conversation anymore, there is an inner ear that is listening for the turn of
events. The trivia of politics and of political commentary are largely discounted or ignored, but the substance does actually matter and is deeply considered.
In a short time, I have found a little perspective to be an uplifting thing. To quote a great line of American oratory, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.