Re-elected prime minister extols Ireland's success

The Associated Press

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Proclaiming an era of "unprecedented opportunity," Ireland's re-elected prime minister Bertie Ahern pledged Thursday to keep the economy booming and peace prevailing in Northern Ireland next door.

Ahern was overwhelmingly returned to office by lawmakers Thursday following an election May 17 that strengthened both Ahern's Fianna Fail party and its smaller partner, the Progressive Democrats.

Ahern told lawmakers he would "never give less than my best" in his second administration -- the first to retain power in Ireland in 33 years.

Ahern pledged to strengthen the Celtic Tiger, the moniker for an Irish economy that has grown faster than any other European nation for the past seven years.

He said his next five-year administration must ensure the country's economic surge "does not prove to be fool's gold."

He also said keeping alive the Good Friday peace pact in the neighboring British territory of Northern Ireland, which he helped negotiate in 1998, would be the "great political goal" of his next administration.