Albert Reynolds

Reynolds was rewarded for his staunch loyalty by joining the newly elected Taoiseach Charles Haughey's cabinet as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. He was appointed Minister for Transport, making his brief one of the largest and most wide-ranging in the government. As Minister for Transport, Reynolds was involved in a bizarre incident in which an Aer Lingus plane was hijacked by a disturbed former monk, with the hijacker's chief demand for the safe return of the aircraft and its passengers being that he should be allowed to reveal a religious secret, the Third Secret of Fatima, which he claimed to have in his briefcase.[9] The incident was resolved in Paris with no injuries.

Fianna Fáil lost power following the 1981 general election but regained it again following the February 1982 general election. Reynolds returned to government as Minister for Industry and Energy. He was responsible for developing the Dublin to Cork gas pipeline.[10] That government fell in late 1982, and Reynolds was back on the opposition benches. During the 1982–83 period, the Fianna Fáil leader, Charles Haughey, faced three no-confidence motions. Reynolds gave him his support at all times, and Haughey survived, defeating his opponents and critics within the party.

In 1987, Fianna Fáil returned to government, and Reynolds was appointed Minister for Industry and Commerce, one of the most senior positions in the cabinet, especially when the government's top priority was economic recovery. In 1988, Minister for Finance Ray MacSharry became Ireland's European Commissioner, and Reynolds succeeded MacSharry in the most powerful department in government.

On 30 January 1992, Haughey retired as leader of Fianna Fáil at a parliamentary party meeting. Reynolds easily defeated his rivals Mary O'Rourke and Michael Woods in the party leadership election and succeeded Haughey as Taoiseach on 11 February 1992.

The ministers who had been sacked along with Reynolds at the end of 1991 were all appointed to cabinet, while eight members of Haughey's cabinet, including such long-serving Haughey loyalists as Ray Burke, Mary O'Rourke and Gerry Collins, were left out. Nine of the twelve junior ministers, many of whom were also Haughey supporters, were also dismissed. Reynolds promoted several long-time critics of Haughey, like David Andrews, Séamus Brennan and Charlie McCreevy, to senior ministerial positions. Reynolds also promoted younger TDs from rural constituencies, such as Noel Dempsey and Brian Cowen, to cabinet positions. One of Haughey's oldest political allies, Bertie Ahern, remained Minister for Finance, agreeing with Reynolds not to challenge him for the leadership.

On Reynolds's first day as Taoiseach, he had to deal with the "X Case", a constitutional case on whether a 14-year-old who had become pregnant as a result of rape could access abortion. The Attorney General, Harry Whelehan, refused to allow the pregnant girl to travel to the United Kingdom for an abortion. The High Court granted the Attorney General's injunction, while the Supreme Court found that abortion was permissible where there was a threat to a woman's life from suicide. The case strained relations between the coalition parties. Reynolds tried to find a middle ground but alienated both the Catholic Church and those who sought abortion rights. Three amendments to the constitution on abortion were put to referendum. The wording of the constitutional change caused tensions between the two government parties. Still, the government remained intact as the amendments passed through the Oireachtas. They were held on the same date as the 1992 general election. The first proposal was defeated, which would have excluded the risk of suicide from circumstances where abortion was permissible, while proposals to allow travel outside the state and access to information were approved.

Reynolds negotiated considerable benefits for Ireland from the European Union regional aid budget in the aftermath of the Danish rejection of the Maastricht Treaty.

A tribunal of enquiry into irregularities in the beef industry referred to as the "Beef Tribunal", was established to examine the "unhealthy" relationship between Charles Haughey and beef baron Larry Goodman. This revealed to the public a substantial conflict of opinion between the two party leaders. At the tribunal, Desmond O'Malley severely criticised Reynolds, in his capacity as Minister for Industry and Commerce, for an export credit scheme. When Reynolds gave evidence, he referred to O'Malley as "dishonest".[11] This enraged the Progressive Democrats' leader; his party called a motion of no confidence, which resulted in the Progressive Democrats withdrawing from government and the collapse of the government. Reynolds then sought a dissolution of the Dáil from the president, Mary Robinson. A general election was then called.

The 1992 general election campaign was a disaster for Fianna Fáil. The world was in recession, the Haughey era was a recent memory, and the Gulf War dominated international news, with Saddam Hussein in the news at the same time as the Beef Tribunal was discussing Reynolds's attempts to sell beef to the Iraqi regime. The fact that Reynolds seemed prepared to issue risky state-funded export insurance, effectively subsidising the Goodman business empire which now accounted for 12% of national GDP, when the country was in deep recession, shocked the electorate. Support for the party fell by 5%.[12][13] The Labour Party under Dick Spring ran a campaign independent of its traditional coalition partner Fine Gael. It was Fianna Fáil's worst election result since 1927, losing nine seats. Fine Gael lost ten seats, while the Labour Party had its best result, with 33 seats. In January 1993, Fianna Fáil and Labour formed a government with Reynolds as Taoiseach and Spring as Tánaiste.

In 1993, Reynolds's Minister of Finance, Bertie Ahern, issued a tax amnesty for people who had outstanding tax bills unpaid and undeclared, provided they made some declaration of their previous income. This created considerable media disquiet and provoked Spring to make a policy statement. On 9 June 1994, Fianna Fáil lost two seats in the Mayo West by-election and the Dublin South-Central by-election to the opposition Fine Gael and Democratic Left, placing Reynolds under pressure, as he could no longer depend on Spring to remain in government.

The report on the Beef Tribunal was published in July 1994. The Labour Party had threatened to leave the government if Reynolds was criticised. Reynolds was alleged to have juxtaposed and misquoted sections of the report in issuing a rebuttal before the report became public. Spring was furious that the report was not considered by the cabinet first.

Reynolds (left) giving a bowl of shamrocks to US president Bill Clinton on Saint Patrick's Day, 1994

One of Reynolds's main achievements during his term as Taoiseach was in the peace process in the long-running conflict in Northern Ireland. Piecemeal negotiations had gone on during 1993 between Reynolds and British prime minister John Major, resulting in the Anglo-Irish agreement of 1993; on 15 December, the Downing Street Declaration was signed in London. Reynolds remained involved in discussions with Northern Ireland's nationalist parties and, along with John Hume, persuaded the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) to call a complete ceasefire on 31 August 1994.[14] Major was quoted at the time as saying:

Let me now say something that may surprise you. Throughout the process, I was acutely conscious that IRA leaders were taking a risk, too: if Albert and I upset our supporters we might – as Albert put it, be 'kicked out'. That was true, but the IRA's supporters were more deadly than our backbench colleagues. And their leaders were taking a risk too, possibly with their own lives.[15]

In September 1994, Reynolds was left standing on the tarmac at Shannon Airport by Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who failed to emerge from his plane to meet awaiting Irish dignitaries.[16] Headlines around the world alleged that Yeltsin was too drunk to appear; a Russian official said that he was unwell and aides later suggested that he had had a heart attack.[17] Yeltsin later announced that he had overslept.[18]

Reynolds had decided to reappoint Attorney General Harry Whelehan when the government was formed in 1992. When the position of President of the High Court became available, Reynolds proposed Whelehan. At this stage, allegations surfaced that Whelehan had been less than keen to prosecute a serial child abuser priest, Brendan Smyth, due to the implications that such an action concerned the accountability of certain prominent members of the Catholic hierarchy. It was later revealed that Whelehan, in his capacity as Attorney General (AG), had mishandled an attempt[19] to extradite Smyth to Northern Ireland, where he was facing criminal charges. This was covered on the British television station Channel 4 when the Irish state broadcaster was mute, and Irish newspapers were effectively talking around the issue for fear of action for libel.

Spring led his ministers out of a cabinet meeting to consider the position of the Labour Party. The coalition appeared to be finished, but Reynolds still held out for the chance to patch things up. Reynolds went before the Dáil and said that if he had known "then" what he "knew now" about the incompetent handling of the case by the AG's office, he would not have appointed Whelehan to the judicial post.

However, Reynolds was damaged politically, appearing more interested in holding on to power than in the integrity of government actions. Spring decided that he could not go back into government with Reynolds, and the Labour Party resigned from the government on 16 November 1994.

It was apparent that Reynolds no longer had enough support to govern, so he resigned as Taoiseach on 17 November 1994.[20]

On 19 November 1994, Reynolds resigned as party leader, and the Minister for Finance Bertie Ahern was unanimously elected the sixth leader of Fianna Fáil. Reynolds's favoured successor, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, withdrew from the leadership contest on the morning of the vote. It initially appeared that Labour would rejoin the coalition with Fianna Fáil under Ahern, allowing Ahern to ascend to the position of Taoiseach. Instead, Spring led Labour into successful coalition negotiations with Fine Gael and Democratic Left, and Fianna Fáil found themselves in opposition against a Rainbow Coalition. Reynolds remained acting Taoiseach until John Bruton took office on 15 December and then returned to the opposition backbenches.

In 1993, Reynolds and Bertie Ahern, then Minister for Finance, wrote to developer Owen O'Callaghan seeking a substantial donation. O'Callaghan was then heavily lobbying for state support for a stadium project at Neilstown, County Dublin. According to the report, O'Callaghan felt compelled to donate a sum of IR£ 80,000 to Fianna Fáil to get funding for the stadium. The Mahon Tribunal did not find the payment corrupt. However, the report noted that pressing a businessman to donate money when he was seeking support for a commercial project was "entirely inappropriate, and was an abuse of political power and government authority".[29]

In November 2007, it was alleged at the Mahon Tribunal that Reynolds, while on government business in New York, collected a substantial sum of money for his Fianna Fáil party that did not get fully credited to the party. On the same trip, it emerged[30] in the tribunal that Reynolds had the government jet make an additional and unscheduled five-hour stopover in the Bahamas.

Reynolds received annual pension payments of €149,740.[31]

In July 2008, it was reported that Reynolds was medically unfit to give evidence at the Mahon Tribunal because of "significant cognitive impairment". Reynolds had on several previous occasions been due to give evidence concerning payments he allegedly received when he was Taoiseach.[32]

His successor as Fianna Fáil leader, Bertie Ahern, who as Taoiseach was one of the negotiators of peace in Northern Ireland and had long been a political ally and friend, said on Reynolds's death:

I am deeply saddened to learn today of the death of Albert Reynolds. He was not afraid to take political risks to further the path of reconciliation. The Downing Street Declaration paved the way for the IRA ceasefire and all the positives which have flowed from the peace process for people North and South. So much of this achievement has its roots in Albert's courage, perseverance and his commitment to democratic politics.

The Archbishop of Dublin, who attended the service, commented on Reynolds's determined character:

In his life, in his responsibility for the political and economic destiny of those he was called to serve, Albert Reynolds was responsive and creative and determined in his desire to move forward in the search for peace and for a more just, secure and prosperous society.

Former Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Brian Cowen expressed his sadness at the passing of their "close personal friend".

Michael O'Leary, the chief executive officer of Ryanair, said:

As my local TD in what was then the Longford-West Meath constituency, I had some interaction with him. We were certainly very proud of him down there. I think history will be very kind to him and it should be. In a relatively short period as Taoiseach he achieved a terrific transformation, both in the peace process and also setting Ireland on a period of very rapid economic growth. He wasn't perhaps the greatest politician in the world. He managed to blow up two coalitions in a relatively short period of time. But I think if you go back and you ask Irish people now if you could have visionary, dynamic and bold leadership like Albert Reynolds, or the 10 years of dither, fudge and buying off the various stakeholders that came after him under Bertie, I think everybody would go back and have Albert in a flash.[38]

• Reynolds, Albert, My Autobiography (Dublin 2010)

• Coakley, J & Rafter, K Irish Presidency: Power, Ceremony, and Politics (Dublin 2013)
• Kelly, S Fianna Fail, Partition and Northern Ireland, 1926–1971 (Dublin 2013)
• O'Donnell, Catherine, Fianna Fail, Irish republicanism and the Northern Ireland Troubles 1968–2005 (Kildare 2007)
• O'Reilly, Emily, Candidate: The Truth Behind the Presidential Campaign (Dublin 1991)
• Ryan, Tim, Albert Reynolds: The Longford Leader. The Unauthorised Biography (Dublin 1994)