'John was as tough, if not tougher, than any Taoiseach'
Seán Donlon, former Ambassador to the US, on John Bruton
Seán Donlon - Former Ambassador to the US and former Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs
As an Athboy man I was particularly honoured to be asked by John Bruton when he became Taoiseach in 1994 to become an adviser on Northern Ireland. I had retired in 1987 from a thirty year career in the Department of Foreign Affairs where most of my focus had been on Anglo-Irish and US-Irish matters.
While John’s becoming Taoiseach was somewhat unexpected, no one was better qualified for the position. He had been a TD for nearly 30 years, had held senior ministerial positions and had been actively involved in promoting our membership of the Common Market from his days as a student in UCD.
His commitment to the European ideal continued all during his life. He was a fluent French speaker, read La Monde most days, was active in the European Peoples Party and guided Ireland through an EU Presidency in 1996. As an EU leader and as Taoiseach he addressed a Joint Session of the US Congress that year. It was fitting that after he stepped down from Irish politics he agreed to accept an appointed as EU Ambassador to the US and moved to Washington. In his five years there he became a familiar face on Capitol Hill, the centre of US politics, and is generally regarded as the most successful ever holder of that position.
He never forgot his Meath base and deserves much credit for bringing an EU institution to Grange, Dunsany.
When he became Taoiseach he said that his first objective was to maintain stability in a coalition Government of three parties which, to put it mildly, were not natural allies. He established and maintained excellent relations with the Labour Party’s Dick Spring and Democratic Left’s Proinsias De Rossa. His working relationship with Dick Spring was especially important as Dick had already been deeply involved in Northern Ireland matters and continuity of policy was important.
In the early '90s, John Hume and Gerry Adams had initiated discussions which laid the groundwork for what became the Northern Ireland peace process. These discussions led to the Reynolds/Spring Government persuading John Major’s Government to agree what became known as the Downing Street Declaration and when John Bruton became Taoiseach negotiations were already well underway between Dublin and London to agree a joint agenda for talks with the Northern Ireland parties. This was to become the Joint Framework Documents eventually agreed by Bruton and Major in 1995.
In his approach to the Northern Ireland situation Bruton followed two principles. He was totally opposed to the use of violence to achieve political objectives and was therefore an opponent of Sinn Fein. Nor did not like any approach which did not involve the unionists. He had not been enthusiastic about the 1985 FitzGerald/Thatcher Anglo-Irish Agreement because it had not involved any input from unionists.
John Major and the British establishment generally initially underestimated John’s commitment to constitutional nationalism but following discussions relating to the Garvaghy Road parade in 1976 when Major threatened to put down the phone they were brought to accept that John was as tough, if not tougher, than any Taoiseach.
No appreciation of John’s role as Taoiseach would be complete without referring to his integrity as exemplified by his involvement in the Divorce Referendum campaign in 1996. When the Government was being formed in 1994 he had given a commitment to Dick Spring that he would support the Labour Party’s proposal to have a referendum even though it was not high on his personal list of priorities. Not only did he give his support but he became one of the most effective campaigners and his RTE interview on the Sunday before polling was a huge factor in the referendum passing by the slimmest of majorities. As ever John was a man of his word.
John was an Irish patriot to his fingertips. History will be kind to him. Suaimhneas siorai da anam uasal.