Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has been honoured with a key world peacekeeping role.

Mr Ahern is to join the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF), the Herald has learned.

He will now play a major role in advising on conflict resolution and negotiation aboad.

He joins ex US president Bill Clinton, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as a member of the forum.

Ever since he rode off into the sunset a couple of months ago, political insiders have been asking themselves -- what exactly is Bertie Ahern up to?

True, there had been fleeting glimpses of the ex-Taoiseach at the Champions League final in Moscow and the Neil Diamond concert in Croke Park. However, nobody imagined that this notorious workaholic had decided to settle for a life of idle pleasures.

Now we know at least part of the answer. Instead of sitting at home and watching daytime TV, Bertie has been hawking his CV around in the hope of landing some prestigious international position to top up his Dail pension.

Today he's accepted an invitation from the World Economic Forum (WEF) to become a member of the Global Agenda Council on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. Roughly translated, this means that he'll be giving advice on how to end wars to one of the most powerful private clubs in the world.

The WEF have declined to reveal how much they'll be paying Bertie to listen to his words of wisdom on how he persuaded the people of Northern Ireland live together instead of shooting each other's brains out.

Whatever the price, it's presumably more than the rest of us will have to shell out for his autobiography. It's also been revealed that Bertie has been negotiating with several publishers over the rights to his life story and hopes to begin work on it as soon as possible.

The former Taoiseach will be keenly aware that his old pals Bill Clinton and Tony Blair managed to land millions for their book deals. An Irish leader isn't in quite the same commercial league, but even so the contract should ensure that Bertie won't have to worry about where his next pint of Bass is coming from for a while.

Whenever the book does appear, it should be a huge bestseller. However, anybody expecting any dramatic confessions about the financial controversies that caused his downfall would be well advised to save their money.

If you want a taster of what to expect, log on to Bertie's spanking new website at bertieahernoffice.org. There's chapter and verse about the Celtic Tiger and the Good Friday Agreement, but the words "Mahon Tribunal" don't appear once.

Moreover, as we all know, the ex-Taoiseach's memory can be curiously faulty on occasions.

After the death of Seamus Brennan last week, he recalled how his old friend was actually quite happy to be removed from the Department of Transport in the cabinet reshuffle of 2004. Everybody else remembered that Brennan was so upset that day, he came close to tears in the corridors of Leinster House.

Clearly, Bertie is anxious to secure his historical legacy and rehabilitate his reputation after the battering it took in Dublin Castle. The real question is, will he be tempted to go for broke and run for president in 2011?

Taking up residence in Aras an Uachtarain would be a fitting end to the career of the most talented politician of his generation. On the other hand, it would re-awaken all those embarrassing questions about briefcases full of cash and money won on the horses.

Bertie Ahern is going to be making headlines for a long time to come -- something that might make Brian Cowen just a little bit nervous.

- ANDREW LYNCH