THE BERTIE & BRIAN CIRCUS Rosanna and Glenda kiss and make up

Just days after being excoriated for lying to Mahon, Ahern is in Nigeria lecturing on f inance while Cowen is in the U.S. pontificating on the crisis he helped create

BERTIE Ahern and Brian Cowen – two of the principal architects of our economic downfall – are touring the world while being paid handsome sums to dispense their supposed financial wisdom.

Just four days after the Mahon report stated that he had lied on oath about his personal finances, Mr Ahern was at a business forum in Nigeria to lecture on international investment.

His successor as taoiseach – who saddled the taxpayer with billions of euro of toxic banking debt – was meanwhile delivering a self-serving analysis of the eurozone crisis for the benefit of a U.S. audience.

Mr Cowen’s speech in Washington – for which he could receive a fee of as much as €30,000 – came less than a

month after he told Irish reporters he would make no comment on politics because he was now ‘a private citizen’. The Offaly man, who has an annual pension of €150,000, delivered his critique of the European and Irish economies at Georgetown University rather than presenting it here to the public living with the dire consequences of his decisions.

In his first public comments on the economy since leading office, Mr Cowen admitted his Government had made mistakes but sought to shift the focus by saying leaders in Europe had to shoulder some of the blame for our collapse. He accused them of leaving smaller states such as Ireland and Greece ‘floundering’ at the beginning of the crisis.

He also defended the bank guarantee, which left the taxpayer with the tab for Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide’s reckless lending during the boom.

‘Whether a narrower guarantee would have staved off an implosion of the bank-

‘Serious mistakes

were made’

ing system at a lower cost to the State is a matter for economic historians to ruminate on,’ he said.

‘We had to deal with this crisis in real time. Our view at the time was that we would get one shot at calming the markets.’

Mr Ahern showed a similar lack of contrition when he appeared at the inaugural Ogun State Investors’ Forum, in Abeokuta, in Ogun state, in south-western Nigeria.

The former Fianna Fáil leader gave a keynote speech to about 1,000 investors – and it was also carried live on a state television channel.

The Ogun administration classes Bertie among the ‘leaders of thought’ backing their conference, which was aimed at showcasing the investment opportunities in the state.

Mr Ahern, who flew out of Dublin at the weekend to Heathrow and then on to Lagos, has had all his expenses paid by the regional government. He is also understood to be receiving an as-yet undisclosed fee for his services.

Mr Ahern praised the economic opportunities in west Africa and repeated the theme of the summit as ‘Ogun State: Open for Business’, an echo of the message Enda Kenny has been carrying around the world about Ireland.

State governor Ibikunle Amosun reassured potential investors that the process of doing business in Ogun is designed to ‘eliminate government bureaucracy or bribery’.

Nigerian Clement Esebamen, who ran for the Dáil in Dublin West at the last general election, accused Mr Ahern of ‘kicking up dust’ in Africa to disguise his tribunal troubles.

His appearance followed a tumultuous four days for Fianna Fáil, which last night confirmed it had received and accepted resignations from Mr Ahern, who has denied any wrongdoing, and former minister Pádraig Flynn, who Mahon said had sought and received a corrupt payment.

There have been calls for their lucrative State pensions to be cut. However, Enda Kenny yesterday indicated this was unlikely because it would probably require changes to the Constitution.

Barrister Tony Mcgillicuddy said that even if a constitutional amendment were passed, it could be in conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, Mr Flynn’s pension from his time as a European Commissioner is one for the Commission to consider.

A spokesman said last night it would respond to a letter sent last week by Labour MEP Nessa Childers asking if Mr Flynn’s pension could be taken away within 15 days. ‘I’m really so angry about what has occurred – and I think the Irish people are so angry – and I think they want to see trying make an effort to stop it,’ she said.

Mr Ahern gets a ministerial pension of around €98,000 and a TD’S pension of around € 48,000 — giving him around €152,331 a year.

Between 2010 and 2011, he earned €146,000 from five lecturing engagements arranged by the Washington Speakers’ Bureau in destinations i ncl udi ng Honduras, Nigeri a and Spain.

The WSB’S website lists the fee for a Bertie Ahern lecture as $40,000 (€30,000) and upwards. He is the only Irish speaker on its books, but Mr Cowen could expect a similar sum for his appearance on Wednesday at the