THE award-winning author of the book Judging Dev, about the life and legacy of Eamon de Valera, turned down a request from Bertie Ahern to ghost-write his autobiography.

UCD lecturer Diarmaid Ferriter told the Sunday Tribune he declined Ahern's offer as he believes it is too soon for a historian to 'judge Bertie'.

It was recently reported Ahern signed a six-figure deal with Ferriter's UCD colleague, historian Richard Aldous, to write the book for international publishing firm Random House.

Speaking from Boston College, where he is the Burns Library visiting scholar in Irish Studies for this year, Ferriter explained, "Bertie rang me towards the end of the summer and asked me if I would be interested in writing the book and mentioned the Judging Dev book in that context.

"It was a pleasant exchange but it is not something I was interested in doing. I am not interested in ghost-writing, but apart from that, in my view it is far too early for a biography of Ahern by a historian.

"Of course it is too early. Some historians believe 75 or even 100 years need to pass before historical subjects can be placed in a proper context and be document­ed dispassionately.

"This is not just about Ahern. I was also asked by a publisher during the summer to write a biography of Charlie Haughey and I turned that down for the same reasons."

Speaking about Aldous's decision to ghost-write Ahern's book, Ferriter said: "I am expressing my personal views, not criticising Richard Aldous, who is a colleague of mine at UCD and a respected and accomplished historian. He will have his own reasons for wanting to do the book.

"Historians at various stages are presented with certain opportunities or projects and they will make decisions based on all sorts of considerations. I am not going to sit in judgement on my academic peers for the decisions they make."

Ferriter believes it would be wrong to write a book about Ahern before the release of the Mahon tribunal report as it "may contain a wealth of information that the historian may find difficult to find elsewhere".