Though John Bruton was taoiseach, Ireland’s prime minister, for only three years in the mid-1990s, his contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process – forging closer Anglo-Irish ties during the final phase of the Troubles – was substantial.
Bruton, who has died aged 76 after a long illness, advanced political negotiations through the carefully drafted joint framework agreement of 1995 and was candid in expressing his views even when he and his British counterpart disagreed.
The text of one telephone conversation revealed that during the crisis over Orange Order marches at Drumcree in July 1996, John Major threatened to put the phone down on Bruton.
Their impassioned exchange followed the failure to establish communications between Protestant marchers who wished to parade along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown and nationalist, Catholic residents opposed to a triumphalist procession.
Faced with loyalist riots, the RUC chief constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, allowed the march to proceed, infuriating Bruton and many others. Orange Order leaders and Unionist politicians would not negotiate with the residents’ spokesman, Brendan McKenna, a convicted IRA bomber.
Major told Bruton the problem was the residents’ decision to put up “a convicted terrorist”. Bruton responded that he had “served his sentence” and pointed out that David Ervine, a key loyalist politician involved in all-party talks, had also been convicted of carrying a bomb.
The taoiseach then questioned RUC reasoning at Drumcree, suggesting it was the type of argument deployed “to capitulate to the Ulster Workers’ strike in 1974” and added that “backing off does not convey a sense of resolution or a sense that your government is in charge”.
At that point, Irish state papers record, Major responded: “I resent that John, and if you want to continue the conversation in that fashion you can continue it alone.” The UK prime minister was eventually persuaded not to end the call and their strong relationship endured.
Bruton was better known for his condemnation of IRA violence. His straight talking might have surprised his political opponents in Dublin, some of whom derided him as “John Unionist”, accusing the Fine Gael party leader of demonstrating excessive sympathy for Northern Ireland’s unionists.
On entering office as taoiseach in 1994, Bruton had hung a portrait of his hero John Redmond – the early 20th-century leader of constitutional Irish nationalism – on the wall. Bruton disapproved of the 1916 Easter Rising and the tradition of “blood sacrifice” in Irish politics, but also kept a portrait of Seán Lemass, an earlier taoiseach from the rival Fianna Fáil party, whom he admired for his reforming zeal.
Among other achievements, Bruton helped lay the foundations for Ireland’s sustained economic growth, secured the passage of a referendum removing the constitutional ban on divorce and in 1995 welcomed the first official royal visit since Irish independence when Prince Charles was guest of honour at a state dinner in Dublin Castle.
Elected to the Dáil, Ireland’s parliament, at the age of 22, he became the country’s youngest taoiseach at the age of 47. Energetic and always eager to discuss ideas, he later embarked on a second career as an EU diplomat.
Born into a prosperous farming family in Dunboyne, Co Meath, John was the son of Doris (nee Delany) and Joseph Bruton. Education at Clongowes Wood college, an elite Jesuit boarding school in Co Kildare, was followed by three years at University College Dublin, where he studied economics and politics. He graduated in 1968 and switched to law, qualifying as a barrister in 1972, though he never practised at the bar.
By then he had won a seat in the Dáil for Fine Gael in the Meath constituency. His ascent through party ranks was swift. He twice served as minister for finance (1981-82, 1986-87) as well as minister for industry (1982-86). His progress was not always marked with success.
Critics pointed out that two governments effectively collapsed because his budget proposals unravelled. His attempt to impose 18% VAT on children’s shoes in 1982 became a notorious defeat.
Bruton failed in his first contest to take over as party leader but succeeded in 1990. Four years later he became the only person in Irish politics to become taoiseach without an election after persuading the Labour party to switch sides.
His “rainbow coalition” – composed of Fine Gael, Labour and the Democratic Left – surprised observers by its resilience, showing his skill in developing a cohesive programme of government. He could on occasions be impatient, once telling a local radio reporter he was tired of being asked about “the fucking peace process”.
Bruton’s party polled well in the 1997 general election, but a slump in Labour’s vote resulted in a change of government. He survived as Fine Gael leader in opposition until 2001 when he was replaced by Michael Noonan.
Rejecting encouragement to stand as a candidate for the country’s presidency, he was re-elected to the Dáil again in 2002. Two years later he accepted the post of European Union ambassador to the US. During his five-year term in Washington, Bruton raised the EU’s profile on Capitol Hill significantly.
Tributes reflected his status as a widely respected Irish statesman. His Fianna Fail rival Bertie Ahern praised him for never entering “into the vendettas of modern politics”. Major saluted his bravery for putting “peace above political self-interest”.
In 1978 Bruton married Finola Gill, and she survives him, along with their son, Matthew, and daughters, Juliana, Emily and Mary-Elizabeth, his brother, Richard (also a Fine Gael TD), and sister, Mary.
• John Gerard Bruton, taoiseach and diplomat, born 18 May 1947; died 6 February 2024
