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Sat 06 Jun 2007Ahern intends to be Taoiseach until 2012Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has given the clearest signal yet that Tánaiste Brian Cowen will replace him as leader of Fianna Fáil and taoiseach during the course of the current Dáil, though possibly not until near the next general election.Asked if Mr Cowen is as obvious a successor to him as Seán Lemass was to Eamon de Valera, Mr Ahern said: "I think that's fair enough. I mean I could give you a lot of political answers about this one, but I'm not going to go down that road.