Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008.

Ahern has been a Teachta Dála since 1977 and he represents the constituency of Dublin Central. He served in the governments of Charles Haughey and Albert Reynolds as Minister for Labour and Minister for Finance . He also served briefly as Tánaiste after the break-up of Albert Reynolds' coalition government. In 1994 he was elected sixth leader of Fianna Fáil.