Tánaiste and Minister for Health Brian Cowen has said "no person should have to go through" what Bertie Ahern endured in the weeks leading up to the general election.
"And we can learn a lot from the public's balanced and reflective response" to it, he added in a speech to the Humbert School in school in Ballina Co Mayo today.
"It remains a fact that confidential material was selectively leaked by a person or persons unknown with the sole intent of causing Bertie Ahern significant electoral damage. Only material which might cause damage was leaked, while other material was withheld," he said. However, "after 10 years, the public know him pretty well by now and they understand that he is not motivated by personal gain. They have seen the progress made under his leadership. He has never been a specialist in the soundbite approach to politics, but he has more than made up for this in the substance of his achievements," he said. Mr Cowen also noted that two very detailed analyses of the 2007 general election campaign by RTÉ and MediaMarket "show a picture of at times relentlessly negative coverage for Fianna Fáil. Equally clear from this publicly available research is the softness of the coverage of Fine Gael in general and their leader in particular."