INTERNATIONAL PRESS: Irish Timescorrespondents around the world assess how the Taoiseach's resignation has been interpreted by the media abroad.
UNITED STATES:THE TAOISEACH'S resignation received prominent coverage in US newspapers, with the New York Times featuring it on its first foreign page.
In a piece that referred to the controversy over his personal finances, the paper said Mr Ahern was "one of Europe's longest-serving leaders, who was closely involved in the negotiations that brought peace to Northern Ireland".
It said his announcement "sealed a reversal of fortunes for a man once nicknamed the Teflon Taoiseach - the Irish word for leader or prime minister - for his ability to survive onslaughts by political foes . . . Supporters hint at his possibly becoming the first permanent president of the European Union, a new role being proposed for the 27-nation bloc".
The Washington Post's report was headlined "Ireland's Prime Minister to Step Down Amid Official Probe of Personal Finances".
"The second longest-serving prime minister in Irish history, Ahern took office in June 1997 during a period of breathtaking economic growth in Ireland. With his boxer's build and gregarious personality, he built his political career on being a popular and plainspoken 'man of the people'," the paper said.
"Beyond cultivating his modest Everyman image, Ahern has proved a shrewd political operator . . . Under his watch, Ireland built hundreds of thousands of new homes and businesses and became awash with millionaires and even billionaires as the 'Celtic tiger' economy boomed."
The Los Angeles Times noted that Mr Ahern had promised after the last election to step down before 2012, "but the drumbeat of inquiry into payments he received in the 1990s has grown feverish," prompting his early departure.
In an AP report headlined "Likely successor known for brusqueness," Boston Globe website readers were informed "Ireland's combative deputy prime minister and finance minister, Brian Cowen, is the overwhelming favorite to replace the charming Bertie Ahern as Ireland's leader next month."
The tabloid New York Post ran a short report on the resignation, headlined "Bye Bye Bertie, Bertie Bye Bye". - Denis Staunton
BRITAIN:Bertie Ahern's resignation made the front pages of many of the final editions in London.The personal issues surrounding the Taoiseach's surprise departure vied with widespread recognition of Mr Ahern as a man who personified the Celtic tiger, was considered a possible EU president and who, above all, with Tony Blair, was admired for engaging with unionism and helping secure peace in the North.
"Praised for his statesmanship, but scandal forces Ahern to stand down" ran the headline over page 8 of the Independent. "Ahern forced out by sleaze allegations", the Daily Telegraph informed its readers on page 10, with an accompanying story: "He didn't just drink in the pub, he cashed wage cheques there."
However, editorial writers also reflected warmly on the Taoiseach's achievements at home and abroad, while some other accounts reflected his stated concern that claims about his finances should not derail the work of his government, or the forthcoming campaign to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.
The Sun, meanwhile, hailed Mr Ahern "a hero", declaring: "Bertie Ahern has been a remarkable Irish leader. A decade ago, he played a brave and tireless role in securing the Good Friday Agreement. It ended the bloody misery in Ulster which blighted our nation for generations. He slashed taxes and turned his country into a Celtic tiger economy."
The Times said Mr Ahern's decision to relinquish office was the right one: "An 11-year tenure is rather long by the standards of modern democracies and inevitably results in personal fatigue and political inertia."
Mr Ahern's authority had also been "compromised by the revelation that he accepted monetary support from friends while serving as Irish Finance Minister in the early 1990s."
The "Ahern effect" had registered well beyond the peace process, "an enormous triumph for him as it undoubtedly is . . . his legacy is an extremely positive one." - Frank Millar
BRUSSELS:The Brussels-based EU media focused on the likely impact of Mr Ahern's resignation on the upcoming EU treaty referendum.
The Financial Times Europe said: "Analysts believe his departure could now have a critical - and positive - bearing on the result of the upcoming referendum on the future of an enlarged Europe - which can no longer be run as a plebiscite on his premiership."
The internet publication EurActive.com also quoted anonymous Irish officials expressing their relief, claiming it would refocus Irish voters on the issues at hand in the Lisbon Treaty referendum.
The TV station Euronews noted the decision came shortly before the EU referendum and said a proper assessment of his leadership would take some time.
The broadcaster said that "only time will tell if his achievements - most notably the role he played in bringing peace to Northern Ireland" would be "tainted" by recent controversy about his finances.
Belgian newspapers noted Bertie Ahern's commitment to Europe, the peace process and his steering of the Irish economy to unprecedented success. But they also noted that allegations about his finances could compromise his chances of a job in Europe.
La Libre Belgique said Mr Ahern, who had been described as the "Teflon Taoiseach" for his ability to escape previous allegations, had finally succumbed to corruption allegations. - Jamie Smyth
ITALY:Bertie Ahern leaves office with his head high and with his reputation unsullied, despite the accusations about his finances which finally prompted his resignation. So concludes financial daily, Il Sole 24 Ore, one of the few Italian papers to dedicate space to the resignation of the Taoiseach.
Mr Ahern has earned himself a place in the history books, concludes Il Sole, both because of his role in the peace process and also because it was he who led Ireland through a period of unprecedented economic boom: "He remains the most popular and longest serving Taoiseach of the post-war era," writes the financial paper.
La Repubblica concluded that, despite the allegations about his finances, the Taoiseach leaves behind him an enviable reputation not only as an able politician but above all for guiding Ireland through the "Celtic tiger" years and for his contribution to the peace process. - Paddy Agnew
FRANCE:"His fall is brutal, and the country is shaken," Le Monde's correspondent Marc Roche reported from London, noting: "The Irish have understood that a page of their history has been turned; the end of an epoch marked by an opaque symbiosis between politics and business circles, against a background of economic take-off."
While the rival Le Figaro predicted Bertie's fall "could complicate the much awaited ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon," Le Monde reported that Mr Ahern "wanted to deprive the no camp of a protest vote against the Dublin elite and business bigwigs".
Both newspapers called Mr Ahern a convinced European who was "brilliantly re-elected in 2007". It was "the end of a remarkable political career", Le Monde said. Bertie "met the same fate as his mentor, Charles Haughey, forced to leave early in 1992 . . . following financial scandals".
Le Monde credited Bertie with "a great sense of compromise and political flair". Libération devoted only a short item to Mr Ahern's departure, but called him "a model of political longevity" and "the artisan of the Irish economic boom".
Le Figaro and the economic daily Les Echos praised Bertie's "flattering record". Les Echos predicted "a difficult succession" for Brian Cowen, who will face "a brutal slowdown because of the collapse of the property market". - Lara Marlowe
GERMANY and AUSTRIA:Bertie Ahern's resignation announcement made the inside pages of all major newspapers, with all blaming financial irregularities for the surprise step. The Süddeutsche Zeitung, the bestselling broadsheet, told its readers: "In the end, it was the tears of a woman that sealed Bertie Ahern's fate."
The paper concluded: "The Irish have Ahern to thank for their rise from the Cinderella of Europe to the Celtic tiger."
The Frankfurter Allgemeine titled its report "Ahern lays down his thick skin" and described him as the "down-to-earth Dubliner . . . the prototype of cute amiability in which the Irish like to dress themselves". But he stumbled over "increasingly frequent, increasingly imprecise evidence" to the tribunal.
It reminded readers of the fates of Mr Haughey and Ray Burke "by the tribunals to whom [ Ahern] would fall victim a decade later".
The newspaper suggested that, following his departure, Irish voters at the Lisbon Treaty referendum might "grant him a grateful 'yes' as farewell".
Die Presse in Vienna said that Mr Ahern's "sins of the past have caught up with him". It suggested that without clearing up his "dubious finances", Mr Ahern can forget the EU presidency job. - Derek Scally
THE NETHERLANDS:A profile in liberal left-wing newspaper de Volkskrant said Mr Ahern's "political achievements were great", but that the controversy over his finances "was fatal for him". De Telegraaf reported that Mr Ahern need not "worry about his political testament - he was one of the most important architects of peace in Northern Ireland and a pillar of the Celtic tiger economy that brought the country great prosperity". - Isabel Conway
AUSTRALIA:Under the headline "Murky finances taint legacy of the 'Teflon Taoiseach'", The Age likened the Taoiseach's "ignominious end" to the departure of Tony Blair, saying this was also overshadowed by controversy.
"Eleven years after becoming Ireland's prime minister, Mr Ahern left in scenes that made a mockery of his 'Teflon Taoiseach' nickname - earned because no dirt ever appeared to stick to him."
The Sydney Morning Herald said Mr Ahern oversaw an unprecedented economic boom as head of three coalitions. It notes his key role in the peace process and the proximity of his resignation to the Lisbon Treaty vote. - Paul Cullen