The Mire has learned that former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is to retire from politics before the next general election to focus on MeHole, an internet site which he believes will rival the likes of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
Mr Ahern says he has spotted a gap in the market for an “anti-social networking site” and has secured considerable funding for the project. “After I resigned as Taoiseach I got a lot of invitations to join these sites from the likes of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and, of course, Nelson, and I did but me heart wasn’t in it,” Mr Ahern told The Mire. “They were all too bloody cheerful.”
“Then I got a tweet from Tony one day asking me what I was doing and I said ‘scratching me hole’ and it hit me: We need a social networking site for people who don’t feel very social.”
Mr Ahern says Mehole will be attractive to people who have suffered in the downturn that happened after he left power. It has many of the features of Facebook including an Ask MeHole search engine. It also has a Wipe MeHole feature which allows people who don’t like themselves to completely change their profiles.
The former Taoiseach says he has secured most of the funding he needs for the project but added: “If anyone wants to give MeHole a digout they can drop a few bob into the pub for me.”
