ginas is on 4th may and jodis is 22 of july, and i still forgot!
yeh I thought ginas b-day was the 4thog may.. utill I read this (dunno where it's from):
Me and my girls
What was it like growing up with the Taoiseach? Donal O'Donoghye meets Bertie Ahern and his two daughters, Georgina and Cecilia
It was a special date and the Taoiseach was getting the full treatment. Expert hair cut. Designer suit. Pink Gucci shirt. Schedule temporarily on hold. For today was different. Today, Bertie Ahern was going to meet the special women in his life: Georgina and Cecilia - his daughters, his family. So this was to be no hard-hitting interview.
Like the designer clothes they were wearing, it was to be a shiny, happy family portrait. But what a portrait! All three subjects were famous in their own right. Bertie: Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fail. Cecilia: Author of two best-selling books. Georgina: The wife of Westlife's Nicky Byrne. No wonder Montrose was on full alert.
It was the day after the champions league final ("We were all Liverpool fans lastnight" says Ahern, a die-hard Manchester United fan) but also the week of the tragic school bus crash in County Meath. The night before he had visited all five families directly affected by the tragedy. "After visiting those families who had endured such a terrible tragedy you are aware of a fragile nature of life", he says "Last night I visited the families of Sinead, Aimee, Deirdre, Claire and Lisa. They were all unique and very special. Bereavement brings tremendous clarity in life and what really matters."
For Ahern - a professional politician driven by his usual priorities of his job - what matters most is his own family, his two daughters Georgina(25) and Cecilia(23). "I'm massively proud of them," he says. "From the day they were born I've been proud of them, through their schooldays, and everything they have done in their lives. We've always tried to be there. They've been very successful in recent years but we've always been proud of them."
This pride is evident even in a very BIG photo-shoot. I count fourteen people - from hair stylist to minder - arranged about the room. The normally unflappable Taoiseach seems slightly nervous - apart from a charity photo for UNICEF this is the first time he has done something like this. Georgina and Cecilia also seem edgy. Under instructions from photographer John Cooney they strike various poses. People ooh and ahh. It's like being at a christening where people are seeing the baby for the first time. At one point Bertie puts an arm around Cecilia. Georgina jokes that her sister was the favoured daughter.
Afterwards, Cecilia and Georgina sit on either side of their dad. In a way the Taoiseach - a big man - seems almost dominated by his two girls. Did they mind doing that shoot? Bertie laughs, admits it was different. "I enjoyed getting dressed up," says Georgina, "because I was in a tracksuit all last week." Cecilia, the best-selling author, has probably seen it all before.
In the wake of her seven figure publishing deal in 2003, Cecilia was caught in the cross-hairs of the media. This newly minted millionaire, daughter of the Irish PM, was, they assumed, born with a silver spoon in her mouth. "I had no concept of what a millionaire was," she fired back. When you were a child you didn't have flash things at home. You got by. You didn't have convertibles, you didn't have a mansion."
Indeed, The Ahern family home was a proletarian semi-d on the north side of Dublin. Both parents wanted the best for their daughters and indulged them accordingly. "I would never have pressed them into a political life," Says Ahern. "I was just happy for them to do whatever they wanted to do. Both of them had a healthy interest in sport. I wanted both of them to have a good education but I didn't pressure them. At exam time I would say to them: 'Just do your best'. I was never checking how many points they were getting. In truth, I wouldn't have a clue how many points they needed. But they both worked very hard in College. They weren't swots but they were very diligent workers."
Cecilia has spoken of growing up in Drumcondra in "a girlie house" with Georgina and their mum Miriam (their parents separated some years ago). Every Sunday, their dad would visit and take them out. A regular haunt would be nearby Croke Park where they would cheer on the Dubs. "We did different things on Sundays depending on the season," Bertie says. "We were at Croke Park, but in winter time we would go to nearby All Hallows College or we'd go chasing chestnuts in Malahide. Often in winter, if I was working on a Sunday the girls would love coming into the Department of Labour or the Department of Finance."
Seriously? Sounds rather boring for young teenage girls? "Oh no, " says Cecilia. "The whole place would be empty so we'd mess around with the phones." Georgina pipes up: "Or play with the computer. But we also went to lunch with him as well."
The visits to the football games rubbed off on the girls. Georgina follows Man U like her dad. As for Cecilia, it's simply the Dubs.
In the summer they always went on holidays to Kerry, to Ballyferriter and the Dingle Peninsula. "From the time the girls were born we would always go to Kerry," Says Ahern. "When Georgina was born in August 1979, we went down that month and we have been back there practically every year since," he says. "This year we will be in Kerry again. I love Dingle. Miriam and I would go don there in the early seventies and now we know everybody there."
Inevitably, politics reared it's head. At the age of twelve Cecilia recalls getting her wake-up call. It was a budget year and her dad was then Minister for Finance. Photographers swooped on their home. "That was pretty weird," She says. "I thought then that we wouldn't even be able to get in the car." Bertie laughs as his younger daughter continues: "But those were the big days: Everything else was really normal. We were used to seeing dad on TV and hearing him on the radio."
For the two girls, politics was never a career option. "It had to be a real passion and I wasn't interested," says Cecilia. Anyway, says Georgina. "I think dad was doing enough for all the family put together."
Both girls believe that their dad works too hard. "I don't know anyone who works as hard as him," says Georgina. "He is so driven always. He just keeps going."
Both agree that he would take some time out. At this Bertie - God Love him - blushes, slightly. His daughters want him to enjoy more of life: to smell the roses. Georgina, who is currently pursuing a course in health and fitness, considers taking her dad out jogging. Cecilia wonders if he would like to watch more of the Discovery Channel (he's a fan apparently).
Both parents cite their parents as inspirational figures. Miriam's motto growing up was 'anyone can do anything they want' and they saw their father work his way up from from a working-class background. "The place hasn't changed a lot," says Ahern of his family home. We lived in a terraced house. A lot of my life was spent in and around All Hallows College because that's where my dad worked. When my mam and dad were there the girls would meet them. But it was a fairly humble set-up. I don't think my folks ever had a holiday. My dather never stopped working."
"Must be in the family," quips Georgina.
Cecilia tells of the first time she rang her dad to tell him that she had sold PS I Love You for a seven figure sum. The Taoiseach, a man rarely stuck for words, was rendered almost speechless. "I knew she had worked hard on the book and I knew it was good," he recalls. "She had told me before Christmas about a meeting in the Merrion. But just out of the blue she rang me and I was really surprised. You always like to see someone get a break, but that was a serious break."
Indeed US publishers paid Ahern $1 million for PS I Love You. Subsequently, the producers of Forrest Gump stumped up $100,000 for the film rights, rising to £500,000 on the first day of shooting. Georgina lives in an exclusive enclave in Malahide, and the last time I heard Westlife were doing pretty OK.
So what's it like to have two daughters who are actually wealthier than you? Ahern laughs. "I don't really care," he says. "I just want to see them do well and enjoy themselves. I don't think that political power has changed me and I wouldn't like them to ever change. I still have the same friends I had thirty years ago. They still have the same friends they had in school. Georgina has been with Nicky almost since she started secondary school."
Georgina's wedding was the Irish society event of 2003. The lavish reception was staged at a French Chateau, the photo rights were sold to Hello! magazine and family and friends had a ball. On the day, Bertie Ahern made an emotional speech. He spoke of the difficulties caused by his separation from his wife, Miriam, added that he may not of been the best role model as a father, but paid tribute to his wife. Later, Cecilia said it was one of her father's finest speeches. For Georgina it was the highpoint of her special day. "It was very special because it was from the heart and it was very personal," she says. "It meant a lot to me."
It seems odd to attempt to tell this story without including a key piece of the Ahern jigsaw. Miriam was there with the girls all the way: through their school years, their teenage angst, their triumphs and failures. When Cecilia was toiling over her first book, her mother cooked her meals, washed her clothes and did all those crucial humdrum things that mothers do.
But their father remains a close friend and confidant. Throughout this interview - after an understandably nervy beginning - they relax to the point where they gently slag each other. Berite is chided for being a workaholic. The girls laugh when recalling those long ago Sundays at Croker, Old Trafford and on Malahide beach. Nowadays, they rarely miss a Sunday. In the past year Bertie reckons they made 50 weekends. "Both our parents are like our friends as well as being our parents," Says Cecilia. "We have always had a strong friendship as well as the parental guidance which we still need. Hahaha."
But it's time to get down to more weightier matters: Like hoe many Westlife albums has the Taoiseach got in his collection? "All of them because they give them to me for free," he says. "I'm always being asked to get them signed. Normally when I’m out and about with Nicky, like last week, people would be taking photographs of him and asking for an autograph. That's great because I wouldn't have to do anything."
When I suggest he brings his son-in-law to more occasions, he briefly considers this option. But I don't see this man easing back on the pedal for a while yet. So I ask all three about their ambitions: where do they see themselves in say, ten years time?
"I'm easy," Says Bertie(53). "I'll be retired."
"Hopefully, I'll still be writing and still being published," says Cecilia. "I'm working on my fourth book now, but the third has to come out first."
Bertie weighs in again. "At the end of my third term I'll scoot off and do something else: enjoy myself." he says. "I promised the girls that I would stop working eighty ninety hours a week. I love nature and horticulture, but don't have any time right now to enjoy that. Maybe I'll get over to a few Manchester United matches because I only managed one game this year."
Georgina: "I just went back recently to do a course in exercise and fitness. So I would like to work on that."
"She's going to get the rest of us fit," Says Bertie. I wouldn't doubt it. These girls have his number.