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.
