FF leader:The Taoiseach went canvassing in two of Dublin's biggest suburbs yesterday as questions about the Mahon tribunal continued to haunt him.
Mr Ahern never seemed to reach top gear as he blitzed a senior citizens club, two shopping centres, and local newspaper offices in Tallaght and Swords in a two-hour assault on voters.
He received his warmest welcome from pensioners at the South Dublin Senior Citizens Club in Tallaght, but shoppers at The Square and at the Pavilion in Swords appeared indifferent and bemused as he bounded up and down escalators to press the flesh.
Mr Ahern received his most encouraging words from Margaret Grober in the senior citizens club. "Po-face [ Enda Kenny] won't make it as taoiseach, Bertie. Anyone who can take on you-know-who up North and get around him has my vote!"
Buoyed by this much-needed support, Mr Ahern told Margaret and her friends that the Opposition had left senior citizens out of their pledge. "Our commitment is to bring pensioners up to €300 a week," he said to a big cheer.
"And be sure to keep us out of hospitals, Bertie," roared one lively lady.
It started to flag from there. Outside, flanked by Dublin South West Fianna Fáil TDs Conor Lenihan and Charlie O'Connor, who were vying to get the closest to their leader, Mr Ahern prepared to take questions on pensions and the retirement age.
However, the only question reporters wanted to ask was about his comments on Monday about money given to his former partner, Celia Larkin.
Asked to explain how the money could have been a stamp duty issue in 1994 when he didn't purchase his house until 1997, Mr Ahern said: "Well, I will, but I will do it in the Mahon tribunal."
Following prompting from a Fianna Fáil election media handler, he was finally asked a question on pensions. Mr Ahern said he was in favour of abolishing the obligatory retirement age to bring Ireland in line with other European countries. The retirement age of 65 is an arbitrary figure "put in years ago" because the average age people lived to then was 63.
"But as people we are now far healthier and living far longer. Pensioners are far more active as you see here today and they want to in some cases work, at least part-time. It's unfair if people want to work later that they can't do so."
Mr Ahern looked as if he wished some of the press pack would take early retirement as the tribunal questions surfaced again. But the man wasn't for talking. A stray RTÉ journalist escaped the pack and shoved a microphone in the window of the Taoiseach's car, but there was no comment as he sped away.
In The Square, Tallaght, Mr Ahern stopped outside Dr and Herbs Chinese Remedies and for a moment, looked as if he might wander in for a tribunal cure. He was stopped by shoppers, but no one asked him about tribunal matters. They were concerned about high tax and one man told him he wasn't going to vote for Fianna Fáil because of the lack of children's health services.
Outside, a tearful Susan Mambui from Kenya asked Mr Ahern if he thought it fair that she was five years in Ireland and still waiting for residency. The unmarried mother has a two-year-old son and is surviving on €192 a week. A helpless looking Mr Ahern pointed her in the direction of his aides and said they would take details.
From Tallaght, Mr Ahern and his entourage travelled northwards on the traffic-choked M50 to the Pavilion in Swords, where Mr Ahern was presented with two blue booties and vests from the Mothercare shop "for Rocco and Jay". Just when he thought he had left tribunals safely behind him, a van driver on Main Street shouted out his window: "Do you want a brown envelope, Bertie!"
With the three Dublin North Fianna Fáil candidates - John O'Leary, Darragh O'Brien and Michael Kennedy - in tow, it was on to Swords Castle and JC's supermarket before the Ahern machine rolled out of town.
"Out of 10 I would give it a three," remarked one seasoned campaign observer, who had witnessed the champion of all canvassers over several campaigns. But he cautioned: "Don't write him off yet. Day two down, 23 to go. "