During his first term as Taoiseach, he led a Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats coalition. In his second term, he was head of a coalition between Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party.
In the 1950s, he was educated at Summerhill College, Sligo, and found work as a clerk with CIÉ, the state transport service.[4] Reynolds left what many would consider being a "job for life" in the state company and moved into the showband scene, coming to own several dance halls in his local area. He became wealthy during the 1960s when dance halls proved to be extremely popular. He invested his money in several businesses, including a pet food company, a bacon factory, a fish exporting operation and a hire purchase company. Reynolds also had business interests in local newspapers and a cinema. He developed a network of business contacts both nationally and internationally.
Although his dance hall empire required late-night work, Reynolds abstained from alcohol. Reynolds married Kathleen (née Coen, 1932–2021) in 1962 and they had seven children.[5]
Early political life
Reynolds became interested in politics during the Arms Crisis in 1970, a controversial episode in which two government ministers, Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Neil Blaney and Minister for Finance Charles Haughey, were removed from the government over an attempt to send arms to Northern Ireland, where thousands of Catholic families had been driven out of their homes, of whom 1,000 had fled across the border to the Republic of Ireland. Blaney and Haughey were later acquitted in court.[6]
In the wake of this case, Reynolds launched a political career from his background as a successful West Ireland businessman. However, at 44 years of age when first an electoral candidate, he was considered a late starter. He stood for Fianna Fáil at the 1977 general election for the Longford–Westmeath constituency.[7][8][9] The election proved to be a landslide victory for Fianna Fáil, with the party receiving a 20-seat parliamentary majority, resulting in Jack Lynch returning as Taoiseach.
Reynolds remained a backbencher until 1979. Pressure mounted that year on Lynch, the incumbent Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, to step down. Reynolds became a member of the so-called "gang of five" politicians of a strong rural background, with Jackie Fahey (Tipperary), Mark Killilea Jnr (Galway), Tom McEllistrim (Kerry) and Seán Doherty (Roscommon), which aligned itself to Charles Haughey and supported him in the subsequent leadership contest.
Fianna Fáil minister
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 an 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.[10] 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.[11] 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 stayed in power.
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 in a time when the government's top priority was economic recovery. In 1988, the Minister for Finance Ray MacSharry became Ireland's European Commissioner, and Reynolds succeeded MacSharry in the position.
The 1989 general election resulted in Fianna Fáil taking the unprecedented move of entering into a coalition with the four-year-old free-market-centric Progressive Democrats (PD). Reynolds headed the Fianna Fáil negotiation team with another minister, Bertie Ahern. A programme for government was finally agreed upon almost a month after the general election, and Reynolds returned as Minister for Finance in a coalition government that he described as a "temporary little arrangement".
The failure of Fianna Fáil candidate Brian Lenihan to be elected as President of Ireland added to the pressure on Haughey's leadership. In a speech in County Cork, Reynolds announced that if a vacancy arose in the leadership, he would contest it—a clear and open revolt against Haughey's leadership. Several TDs and senators, including some cabinet members, also began to grow disillusioned with Haughey, and they began to look for a successor. Reynolds was the most popular: his profile was enhanced by the so-called "Country & Western" group of TDs (so named because they came from mostly rural counties, as well as Reynolds's earlier fortune in the dance hall business) who began to agitate within the party on his behalf. In November 1991, a relatively unknown rural TD, Seán Power, put down a motion of no confidence in Haughey. Reynolds and a staunch supporter, Pádraig Flynn, announced their support for the motion, and Haughey promptly had them sacked from the cabinet. When the vote was taken, the party reaffirmed its support for Haughey by 55 votes to 22. It looked as though Reynolds's political career was finished.
Haughey's victory was short-lived, as a series of political errors would lead to his demise as Taoiseach. Controversy erupted over the attempted appointment of Jim McDaid as Minister for Defence, and McDaid resigned from the post before he was appointed. Worse was to follow when Seán Doherty, the man who as Minister for Justice had taken the blame for the phone-tapping scandal of the early 1980s, went on television on RTÉ to reveal that Haughey had known about and authorised the phone-tapping. Haughey denied all charges, but the PD government members stated that they could no longer continue in government with him as Taoiseach. Haughey told Desmond O'Malley, the PD leader, that he intended to resign shortly but wanted to choose his own time of departure. O'Malley agreed to this, and the government continued.
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.[sentence fragment] 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.
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".[12] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] The fact that Reynolds seemed prepared to issue risky[how?] 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.[citation needed] Support for the party fell by 5%.[13][14] 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,[citation needed] 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.
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.[16]
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.[17] 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.[18] Yeltsin later announced that he had overslept.[19]
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[20] to extradite Smyth to Northern Ireland, where he was facing criminal charges. This was covered on the British television station Channel 4, which was seen across most of Ireland. RTÉ stood mute, while 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 he could not go back into government with Reynolds, and led the Labour Party out of the coalition on 16 November 1994.
Succession
It was apparent that Reynolds no longer had enough support to govern, so he resigned as Taoiseach on 17 November 1994.[21]
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, when it emerged that Ahern knew more about another case mishandled by Whelehan than previously known, 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.
At the beginning of 1997, Bertie Ahern allegedly encouraged Reynolds to run for office in the coming election and offered him the position of "peace envoy" to Northern Ireland and his support[citation needed] as a candidate for the presidency. Fianna Fáil won the election; however, Ahern allegedly reneged on this promise to Reynolds due to poor election results in his constituency[citation needed] and the change in the political situation in Northern Ireland. Reynolds was still interested in being a candidate for the presidency, along with two other Fianna Fáil candidates, Michael O'Kennedy and Mary McAleese. In a cabinet meeting, the Taoiseach (Ahern) gave a typically ambiguous speech which seemed[to whom?] to encourage his cabinet to support McAleese.
Reynolds won the first round of voting with a comfortable margin. Still, supporters of O'Kennedy backed McAleese, who was successful and became the Fianna Fáil nominee and the eighth president of Ireland.
Reynolds retired from politics at the 2002 general election, after 25 years as a TD; he was quoted in 2007 to state: "I don't bear any grudges over Ahern".[23]
Reynolds was involved in a long-running libel action against British newspaper The Sunday Times over an article published in 1994, which alleged that Reynolds had deliberately and dishonestly misled the Dáil regarding matters in connection with the Brendan Smyth affair that brought down the coalition government. The newspaper claimed a defence of qualified privilege concerning these assertions based on their supposed benefit to the public, but a High Court jury found in favour of Reynolds in 1996. The jury recommended that no compensation be paid to the former Taoiseach. The judge subsequently awarded contemptuous damages of one penny in this action, leaving Reynolds with massive legal costs, estimated at £1 million.[24] A subsequent court of appeal decision in 1998 declared that Reynolds had not received a fair hearing in his High Court action. The case continued to be heard in the House of Lords. This case led to the recognition under British law (and later introduction into Irish law as the "defence of fair and reasonable publication"[25][26]) of the so-called Reynolds defence of qualified privilege for publishers against whom libel actions regarding defamatory comments made in media publications are being taken.[27][28]
In 1999, General Pervez Musharraf became President of Pakistan following a military coup. At the time, the White House did not recognise governments that came to power through a coup d'état. Business associates asked Reynolds to travel to Pakistan and meet Musharraf.
Musharraf asked Reynolds to act as an advisor to him and to contact US president Bill Clinton to reassure the White House as to the intentions of the new government of Pakistan. Reynolds claimed in later interviews that because of the trust built with Musharraf, he would be asked to arrange peace talks between India and Pakistan. These talks started in early 2001 but were interrupted by the 9/11 attacks, after which Musharraf could not contact the White House. He called Reynolds, who called former president Clinton, who quickly reached his successor George W. Bush to communicate the Pakistani position.[29]
Mahon Tribunal
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".[30]
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[31] 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.[32]
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.[33]
Illness and death
In December 2013, it was revealed by his son that Reynolds was in the last stages of Alzheimer's disease.[34] Reynolds died on 21 August 2014.[34][35] The last politician to visit him was former British prime minister Sir John Major, a close friend of Reynolds.[16] The serving Taoiseach, Enda Kenny of Fine Gael, said at the time:
As Taoiseach he played an important part in bringing together differing strands of political opinion in Northern Ireland and as a consequence made an important contribution to the development of the peace process which eventually lead to the Good Friday Agreement.[9]
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".
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.[39]
^Oireachtas Library and Research Service (28 June 2016). "Caretaker governments and caretaker conventions"(PDF). Houses of the Oireachtas. p. 4. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017. Box 1. Irish Caretaker Governments ... 1994 ...
^"Albert Reynolds". Is This Your Life?. 4 February 1995. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
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