Bertiespeak or Bertie-speak[1][2] is a way of speaking the English language as spoken by former Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Ahern's use of Bertiespeak has been credited as playing an integral part in the Northern Ireland peace process and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair was noted on at least one occasion to have allowed Ahern to use Bertiespeak when confronted with a tricky question posed by a journalist.[1] On another occasion when Unionists on a visit to Government Buildings in Dublin made a complaint Ahern was said to have "drowned" them "in a torrent of Bertie-speak", according to Deaglán De Bréadún.[1]
References to Bertiespeak appeared regularly in the Irish media during Ahern's administration. Will Hanafin's De Little Book of Bertie, published in 2001, features numerous examples of Bertiespeak.
- ^ a b c Deaglán De Bréadún (7 May 2008). "The historic value of Bertie-speak". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
Tony Blair was chairing one more joint press conference at yet another delicate and sensitive stage of negotiations when a journalist came up with the type of awkward question that, if answered in blunt and unadorned terms, could cause the house of cards to collapse. Clearly aware of what he was doing, Blair tossed the question to his Irish counterpart, knowing full well that Ahern would smother it in ambiguous and incomprehensible Bertie- speak. Observers said afterwards that, whereas each individual sentence was coherent and logical, the Taoiseach's statement as a whole was calculated to bemuse and mystify ("you would want to be Einstein to understand it"). But before the press corps realised what was going on, Blair had moved to the next question.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Unravelling the many mysteries of Bertiespeakwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).