John Bruton

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John Gerard Bruton (born May 18, 1947) was the ninth Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland. A minister under two taoisigh, Liam Cosgrave, Garret FitzGerald Bruton held a number of the top posts in Irish government, including Minister for Finance (1981–1982 and 1986–1987), Minister for Industry & Energy (1982–1983) and Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism (1983–1986). He became leader of Fine Gael in 1990 and served as Taoiseach from 1994 until 1997, leading the Rainbow Coalition government of Fine Gael–Labour–Democratic Left.

Bruton was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for Meath in 1969, and served continuously until his retirement from domestic politics in 2004. He is currently the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States of America, and a Vice-President of the European People's Party (EPP).

Contents

1 Early life
2 Front bench to minister
3 Minister to leader
4 Career in opposition (1990-1994)
5 As Taoiseach (1994-1997)
6 Post-Taoiseach period
7 Bruton's Government (December 1994 - June 1997)

7.1 Changes

8 Footnotes
9 Political career

Early life

John Gerard Bruton was born to a wealthy landed family in Dunboyne County Meath and educated at Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit-run independent fee-paying secondary school, which numbered James Joyce among its former students. He later went on to study at University College Dublin where he received an honours Bachelor of Arts degree. He later qualified as a barrister from King's Inns, but never went on to practice law. Bruton was narrowly elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1969 general election as a Fine Gael TD. At the age of 22 he was the youngest ever member of the Dáil up to that point. He more than doubled his vote in the general election of 1973, which brought Fine Gael to power as part of the National Coalition with the Labour Party. Bruton was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry & Commerce and to the Minister for Education, by the National Coalition in 1973. He remained in office until 1977.

Front bench to minister

Following Fine Gael's defeat in the 1977 General Election, Bruton was appointed to the new front bench as Spokesperson on Agriculture by its new leader, Garret FitzGerald. He was later promoted to the shadow Finance portfolio, making a particular effective speech in the Dáil in response to the budget of 1980. He played a prominent role in Fine Gael's campaign in the 1981 General Election which resulted in another coalition with the Labour Party with FitzGerald as Taoiseach. Bruton received a huge personal vote in Meath, and at the age of only 34 was appointed Minister for Finance, the most senior position in the Cabinet. The new government had to abandon its election promises to cut taxes in the light of overwhelming economic realities. The government collapsed unexpectedly on the night of January 27, 1982 when Bruton's controversial Budget was defeated in the Dáil. The previously supportive Independent Socialist TD, Jim Kemmy, voted against the Budget, which proposed the introduction of VAT on children's shoes, thus causing the Dáil to be dissolved and Fine Gael to lose power. Inevitably, the budget was seen as necessary and politically brave on the part of Bruton's supporters, but in the eyes of many marked him down as heartless and, worse for a politician, politically naive.

Minister to leader

The minority Fianna Fáil government which followed only lasted until November 1982 when Fine Gael once again returned to power in a coalition government with the Labour Party but when the new government was formed Bruton was moved from Finance to become Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce & Tourism. The following year (1983) the Trade and Tourism portfolios were removed from his brief. A 1986 Cabinet re-shuffle saw Bruton return as Minister for Finance. Although he was Minister for Finance, Bruton never presented his Budget. The Labour Party withdrew from the government due to a disagreement over his budget proposals leading to the callapse of the government and another election.

Following the 1987 General Election Fine Gael suffered a heavy defeat. Garret FitzGerald resigned as leader immediately, and a leadership contest erupted between Alan Dukes, Peter Barry and Bruton himself. The exact result of the vote was not published.Different reports suggested that either Barry or Bruton came a poor third. This was a severe blow as the victor, Dukes, was, like Bruton, one of the younger generation of politicians (albeit a couple of years older than Bruton) but had been a TD for 12 years fewer. Bruton was seen as a throwback to Fine Gael's Christian Democrat tradition, whereas Dukes was in FitzGerald's Social Democratic mould. Dukes was perceived to be a lacklustre leader however, who alienated his party's TDs and made little progress in recovering the ground lost by Fine Gael in 1987. The disastrous performance in the 1990 Presidential Election in which the party finished a humiliating and unprecedented third in a national election,Fine Gael candidate Austin Currie finished a poor third with 17%, behind Labour's Mary Robinson and Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan. proved to be the final straw for the party and Dukes forced to resign as leader shortly after.Fergus Finlay, Mary Robinson: A President with a Purpose (O'Brien Press, 1990) pp 145-146. Bruton, who was the deputy-leader of Fine Gael at the time, was unopposed in the ensuing leadership election.

Career in opposition (1990-1994)

Whereas Dukes came from the left wing of Fine Gael, Bruton came from the more conservative wing. However to the surprise of critics and of conservatives, in his first policy initiative he called for the introduction of divorce to Ireland.

Fine Gael had been in decline for nearly a decade; from the highpoint of the November 1982 general election when it achieved 70 seats in Dáil Éireann, only five seats short of Fianna Fáil's totalFianna Fáil since 1932 had been by far the bigger of the two parties, often with double the number of Dáil seats of Fine Gael. the party had lost a considerable number of seats. Following the inexperienced Dukes' disastrous period of leadership, Bruton's election was seen as offering Fine Gael a chance to rebuild under a far more politically experienced albeit less photogenic and less popular leader. However Bruton's perceived right wing persona and his rural background was used against him by critics and particularly by the media. He was also overshadowed by longterm Labour leader Dick Spring.

By the 1992 general election, the anti-Fianna Fáil mood in the country produced a major swing to the opposition, but that support went to Labour, not Bruton's Fine Gael, which actually lost a further 10 seats. To the astonishment of many the electorate and most of the media, who had voted for or backed Labour to get Fianna Fáil out of power, Labour chose to enter into a new coalition with Fianna Fáil. It was a humiliating blow to Bruton, and was seen as an act of revenge on him by Dick Spring, with whom he had had a strained relationship in government. Fine Gael, and Bruton personally, continued to perform poorly in opinion polls throughout 1993 and early 1994 and Bruton narrowly survived a challenge to his leadership in early 1994. However a couple of by-election victories, and a good performance in the 1994 European Elections, coupled with a disastrous showing by Labour, shored up his position. When in late 1994 the government callapsed, Bruton was able to form a government with Labour and Democratic Left, a small left-wing party. On December 15, aged 47, Bruton became the then youngest ever Taoiseach.

As Taoiseach (1994-1997)

Bruton's politics was markedly different to most Irish leaders. Whereas most leaders had come from or identified with the independence movement Sinn Féin (in its 1917-22 phase), Bruton identified more with the more moderate Irish Parliamentary Party tradition that Sinn Féin had eclipsed in the 1918 general election. He hung a picture of his political hero, the IIP's leader John Redmond on a wall in his office as taoiseach, in preference to other figures like Patrick Pearse. But as evidence of Bruton's complexity, he also kept a picture of former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach Sean Lemass which had been hung there by Reynolds, and which Bruton kept because he viewed Lemass as the best and most reforming Taoiseach in the history of the state.

John Redmond, MP
John Bruton's longterm hero

Bruton's Rainbow Coalition was generally perceived to be a good government, with Bruton, who was initially the most unpopular of modern political leaders and who was meant to have had a bad relationship with Tánaiste Dick Spring, being seen as its star performer.Bruton's radio interview in the final week of the referendum on divorce in 1996 was seen as tipping the scales in favour of a yes vote. The referendum was narrowly won by the yes side. His popularity soared while he and Spring (along with Proinsias De Rossa, leader of DL) were seen as an effective team. His government ensured the passage of a constitutional amendment to allow for the introduction of divorce. Bruton also presided over the first official visit by a member of the British Royal Family, the Prince of Wales since 1912, though Bruton's comments (which were seen as too obsequious not only by Irish people but referred to as 'embarrassingly effusive' by The Times of London and inspired a leader in The Guardian requesting that he get a grip on his 'extravagantly nonsensical attitudes') during the visit overshadowed it somewhat.Mary Holland, 'Princely Welcome Masks an Uncertain Ease' in The Irish Times, June 1995

Continued developments in the Northern Ireland peace process and his attitude to Anglo-Irish relations came to define Bruton's tenure as Taoiseach. In February 1995 he launched the Anglo-Irish ‘Framework Document’ with the British Prime Minister, John Major. This document outlined new proposed relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Many of Bruton's opponents considered him to be too willing to accommodate unionist demands (in one famous Freudian slip, Albert Reynolds referred to him as "John Unionist"). However, he took a strongly critical position on the British Government's reluctance to engage with Sinn Féin during the IRA's 1994-1997 ceasefire. By April 1995, he told a reporter he was "sick of answering questions about the fucking peace process".

Bruton also established a working relationship with Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin, however, the relationship became frayed following the ending of the ceasefire in 1996, resulting in a bomb explosion in London. These relations worsened when the IRA killed Jerry McCabe, a member of the Garda, in a post office robbery in County Limerick, and another bomb explosion in Manchester. Bruton resisted advice to end all talks with Sinn Féin, though he continued to be one of their most vocal critics and advocated another IRA ceasefire before Sinn Féin would be allowed join all-party talks. Bruton received widespread praise in the Republic for condemning the Royal Ulster Constabulary for yielding to loyalist threats at Drumcree by allowing members of the Orange Order march through a nationalist district. He stated that they had been neither impartial nor consistent in applying the law. His outrage and criticism led to a tense atmosphere regarding relations between London and Dublin.

Bruton came to power at a time when Ireland's economy was achieving substantial growth. With the Celtic Tiger in its infancy the standard of living increased dramatically. Constitutional reform was also on the government's agenda when a referendum to abolish the prohibition on divorce was passed by a narrow majority. The government was not void of scandal. In 1996 his Minister for Transport, Michael Lowry, resigned from the Cabinet after allegations that he accepted payments from the supermarket tycoon, Ben Dunne. The scandal initially threatened Bruton, however it was Fianna Fáil that eventually fell foul when the tribunals were set up.

Post-Taoiseach period

With President Bush
John Bruton as EU Ambassador presents his Letter of Credence to the President of the United States.

The government was widely expected to win re-election. However, the public had never forgiven Labour for going into coalition with Fianna Fáil after the previous election. Fine Gael gained nine seats, but Labour was severely mauled, losing 16 seats and leaving the coalition far short of the parliamentary support it needed to stay in office. Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats under Bertie Ahern came into power instead and Bruton went back to being Leader of the Opposition. Fine Gael sunk into paralysis in opposition. Fearing that the party would face collapse, he was deposed from the party's leadership in 2001. However the new leader Michael Noonan, proved disastrous and the party was annihilated to a far worse extent that was expected to be the case under Bruton. Having gone into the election expecting to increase its seat numbers from 54 to 60, instead it collapsed, winning a mere 31, 39 seats less than at its highpoint twenty years earlier in 1982.

Bruton, a passionate supporter of European integration, was appointed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to be one of Ireland's delegates drafting the proposed constitution for the European Union. His brother, Richard Bruton, is the current deputy leader of Fine Gael. He accepted an offer to become European Union ambassador to the United States in the summer of 2004, and after resigning from the Dail on October 31 2004, he assumed that office. As a former prime minister and native English speaker, his appointment is seen as a strategic choice in improving transatlantic relations. On his appointment, political opponent, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, praising Bruton, said he had played "a pivotal role in developing Ireland’s relations with the European Union."[The Irish Voice.]

John Bruton on lecture tour at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

John Bruton regularly lectures at national and international universities. In early 2004 he accepted a position as Adjunct Faculty Member in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University.

Bruton's Government (December 1994 - June 1997)

Changes

May 23, 1995: Hugh Coveney resigns as Minister for Defence & the Marine. He is replaced by Seán Barrett who joins the Cabinet.
November 30, 1996: Michael Lowry resigns as Minister for Transport, Energy & Communications. John Bruton takes on the portfolio until a successor is announced.
December 3: Alan Dukes joins the government as the Minister for Transport, Energy & Communications.

Footnotes

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Political career

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