Albert Reynolds: Risktaker for Peace by Conor Lenihan

Author:Conor Lenihan [Lenihan, Conor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785374050
Google: FYl4zgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 58480590
Publisher: Merrion Press
Published: 2021-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

War

Many commentators expressed particular surprise when Albert Reynolds, on becoming Taoiseach in 1992, had declared the situation in Northern Ireland to be one of his top priorities. His rise to the top of Irish politics had occurred without him publicly enunciating his own beliefs on the issue. There are, of course, many reasons why this was the case. In the first instance, he was largely defined by his previous career as both entrepreneur and businessman. The ministries he had held were, for the most part, economic and investment-focused. His contacts were largely at the level of investment and business. His best friends, outside politics, were people he had encountered through business. Yet, around the time he took up the position of Taoiseach, Mick Quinn, a businessman based in Nigeria and lifelong friend of Reynolds, told Frank Dunlop something that has been little noted: ‘Mick told me that solving the Northern Ireland problem was Albert’s only remaining political ambition, though Albert himself never mentioned this.’1 Quite separately Noel Dempsey, one of his key ministers, states, ‘Albert Reynolds believed that unless you solved the problems of the North, you could not solve your economic problems in the South.’2

Another man, Benny Reid, a party supporter who played cards regularly with Reynolds, vividly remembers finishing a victory tour of the constituency when he was made Taoiseach. Reynolds made a speech in the village of Aughnacliffe in North Longford, pointing north to the border and stating that he would do his best to solve the situation in Northern Ireland. As Reid remembers it, Reynolds pledged, ‘Be it long or short he would put an end to the slaughter up the road.’ It was an off-the-cuff speech by Reynolds, but significant nonetheless. North Longford is close to the border, and reading Reynolds’ autobiography of his younger years in Roscommon, one is also reminded of the proximity of the border to the young man growing up. According to Reid, in Counties Longford, Roscommon and Leitrim there was a core republicanism, but also quite a few people, mainly Catholics, who had settled there because of the conflict in the North.

When Reynolds was starting C&D as a business, the cans for the petfood were purchased initially in the North of Ireland and he would have come to know a good number of unionists from his business dealings. Additionally, one significant contact he made in his dancehall days was Sammy Barr, the owner of a large club in the North. Barr was close to the Reverend Ian Paisley. Reynolds contacted his old friend within days of becoming Taoiseach with a request to speak with Ian Paisley. He was told by Barr that Paisley would only engage when he was the top person in the unionist political set up. As it turned out, that is exactly what Ian Paisley did, but it came about after Reynolds’ departure as Taoiseach and under the leadership of Bertie Ahern.

Reynolds’ happiest time, prior to his involvement in politics, was when he was running the dancehalls.

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