What is "bertiespeak"

Bertiespeak or Bertie-speak is a way of speaking the English language 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. 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.

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.