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"Brian Patrick Lenihan (17 November 1930 – 1 November 1995) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from 1987 to 1990, Minister for Defence from 1989 to 1990, Minister for Agriculture from March 1982 to December 1982, Minister for Fisheries from 1977 to 1979, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1989, 1979 to 1981 and January 1973 to March 1973, Minister for Transport and Power from 1969 to 1973, Minister for Education from 1968 to 1969, Minister for Justice from 1964 to 1969, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Justice and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands from 1961 to 1964. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1961 to 1973 and from 1977 to 1995. He served as a Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from 1957 to 1961 and 1973 to 1977. He also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Oireachtas from 1973 to 1977. He was a member of a family political dynasty; his father, Patrick Lenihan, and sister both followed him into Dáil Éireann; his sister Mary O'Rourke sitting in cabinet with him. Two of his sons, Brian Lenihan Jnr and Conor Lenihan, became TDs in the 1990s. Brian Lenihan Jnr served as Minister for Finance and Conor was Minister of State in the government of Taoiseach Brian Cowen. Two phrases associated with Lenihan Snr, No problem and On mature recollection, entered the Irish political lexicon. Early life Born in Dundalk, County Louth, Lenihan was the son of Patrick Lenihan and Anne Scanlon. His father had been active in the Irish Republican Army, which saw action during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. He had been an admirer of Michael Collins and took the pro-Treaty side in 1922, before later returning to his studies and qualifying as a teacher. Lenihan, who was one of five children, grew up in Athlone. He was educated at Marist College in the town before later studying law at University College Dublin, where he was actively involved in the Law Society as a Committee Member. He later qualified as a barrister from King's Inns. He then practised law for a few years before becoming a full-time politician. Political career =Beginnings= Lenihan first entered politics in 1954, when he ran as a Fianna Fáil candidate in Longford–Westmeath in that year's general election. Of the four Fianna Fáil candidates, Lenihan was the only one not to be elected. Three years later Lenihan contested the 1957 general election, this time in the Roscommon constituency. Although he received more first preferences than any of the other Fianna Fáil candidates, he lost out on a Dáil seat once again. In spite of this, he became a Senator as one of Taoiseach Éamon de Valera's nominees. After four years as a Senator, Lenihan finally secured a seat in Dáil Éireann, following his success at the 1961 general election in Roscommon. He had the distinction of being made a Parliamentary Secretary on his first day in the Dáil as a TD, serving under both Minister for Lands Mícheál Ó Móráin and Minister for Justice Charles Haughey. =Minister for Justice= A cabinet reshuffle saw Lenihan join the cabinet of Seán Lemass in 1964, as Minister for Justice. His predecessor in the office, Charles Haughey, systematically reviewed, repealed or amended Acts dating back 700 years in the single largest reform of the Irish civil and criminal code ever undertaken. Lenihan carried the legislative programme, covering everything from repealing mediæval laws to granting succession rights to married women. As Minister, it was Lenihan who repealed Ireland's notorious censorship laws. Controversially he also suggested that Ireland should rejoin the Commonwealth of Nations, though it is unclear whether that suggestion actually reflected his opinion or whether he was simply raising the issue at Lemass's request to gauge public reaction. =Minister for Education= In 1968, Lemass's successor Jack Lynch appointed Lenihan as Minister for Education. As Minister, he controversially proposed the merger of Dublin's (then) two universities, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and University College Dublin (UCD).Both still exist, alongside a third since created, Dublin City University, formerly the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin (NIHE, Dublin). The scheme was abandoned after mass opposition, Lenihan famously being forced to flee student protests in Trinity through a toilet window. Lenihan was also Minister during a 19-day secondary teachers' strike in February 1969. =Minister for Transport and Power= Following the 1969 general election, Fianna Fáil returned to power for a fourth successive term of office. Lenihan had hopes of further promotion within the cabinet, however, his appointment as Minister for Transport and Power was largely seen as a demotion. =Minister for Foreign Affairs= In 1973, Patrick Hillery was appointed as Ireland's European Commissioner, upon the Irish entry to the European Economic Community. Lenihan then finally secured his much sought- after portfolio, that of Minister for Foreign Affairs. His tenure was short- lived, as the government fell and a new Fine Gael-Labour Party government took office, following the 1973 general election. Political return Lenihan also dramatically lost his Roscommon–Leitrim seat. He once again became a Senator, becoming his party's leader in the upper house. In 1973, he was appointed a member of the second delegation from the Oireachtas to the European Parliament. He moved his political base from rural Roscommon to Dublin West, where he was elected as a TD at the 1977 general election, which saw a landslide victory for Fianna Fáil. Jack Lynch appointed him Minister for Forestry and Fisheries. At Lynch's retirement in 1979, Fianna Fáil saw a leadership battle between Charles Haughey (the radical republican candidate) and George Colley (the party establishment candidate and mild republican). Lenihan dismissed the choice as being between a "knave and a fool". He also described himself as being the "x in Oxo"Oxo is a well-known brand of stock cube. He was believed to have backed Colley. Years later he claimed he had actually supported Haughey, but not everyone accepted this assertion. Haughey, seeking to weaken the faction supporting Colley, appointed Lenihan as Minister for Foreign Affairs, a post he held until Fianna Fáil lost power in 1981. His period in Foreign Affairs was overshadowed by a comment made after an Anglo- Irish summit between Haughey and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, when he spoke of Britain and Ireland being able to bring about Irish unity within ten years, a comment which infuriated the British and Northern Ireland unionists and which undid much of the goodwill achieved by the summit. His comments, at a time of major problems within Northern Ireland, with the Provisional IRA and Irish National Liberation Army campaigns in full swing along with Ulster Defence Association and other loyalists conducting reprisals were widely criticised in the Irish media as insensitive, especially as Irish unity had not even been on the agenda of the summit. One newspaper columnist commented simply "there goes Brian, pointlessly talking himself into trouble again".Sunday Independent. In 1982, when Fianna Fáil regained power for what would prove only ten months, Lenihan was appointed Minister for Agriculture, the announcement in the Dáil being greeted by a sustained round of laughter on the opposition benches. Anglo-Irish Agreement opposition In opposition, Lenihan and Haughey attracted some international criticism when, against the advice of senior Irish-American politicians Senator Edward Kennedy and Speaker Tip O'Neill, they campaigned against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which the government of Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald had signed with the British government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The agreement gave Ireland an advisory role in the governance of Northern Ireland. In 1987, Fianna Fáil returned to power and Lenihan was for the third and final time appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, with the additional post of Tánaiste (deputy prime minister). In power Haughey and Lenihan reversed their opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Lenihan attending meetings of the Anglo-Irish Conference which the Ireland's Foreign Minister and the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland co-chaired. Liver transplant Lenihan's last period as Minister for Foreign Affairs was overshadowed by his serious ill- health. A long-standing liver problem had developed into a life-threatening issue requiring a liver transplant. Lenihan, previously a large-framed man, had been reduced to a bone-thin jaundiced-looking shadow of his former self, so ill-looking that the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King, said afterwards that on seeing Brian at an Anglo-Irish Conference meeting, he had speculated as to whether Lenihan would die at the meeting. In May 1989, Lenihan underwent the liver transplant at Mayo Clinic in the United States. In his absence he was re-elected to the Dáil in the 1989 general election for Dublin West, after which, while remaining Tánaiste, he was made Minister for Defence. Lenihan returned to Irish politics with a new lease of life. When he entered the Dáil chamber he received an ovation, an indication of his personal cross-party popularity. It was revealed subsequently that Lenihan's operation was partly paid for through fundraising by Taoiseach Charles Haughey, from businessmen with Fianna Fáil links. In evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal investigating Haughey's finances, it was established that much of the money raised but not ultimately needed for the operation was redirected by Haughey into his own personal bank account. Haughey was revealed in the 2006 tribunal report to have been engaged in numerous acts of corruption, to finance a lifestyle considerably in excess of his earnings as a politician. Presidential candidate In January 1990, leaks to the media suggested that Lenihan was considering seeking the Fianna Fáil nomination in the 1990 Irish presidential election, which was due in November 1990. Speculation abounded that this was part of a plan to discourage other parties from running candidates in the belief that Lenihan would prove unbeatable and so get the office unopposed. Labour Party leader Dick Spring indicated that Labour would run a candidate for the presidency, even if he had to stand himself. Ultimately, Labour chose former Senator Mary Robinson as its candidate. =Challenge of John Wilson= Lenihan was generally perceived as an unbeatable candidate, though he did receive a late challenge for the nomination from cabinet colleague John Wilson.Fears grew among the party leadership that the party, in a minority government, would have great difficulty holding Lenihan's seat in a by-election, whereas Wilson had a 'safe seat' the party would have no difficulty in holding. However, in September 1990, Lenihan was formally nominated as his party's candidate. The main opposition party, Fine Gael chose Austin Currie, a TD and former Northern Ireland cabinet minister, to be its candidate. Lenihan had a serious flaw. Though regarded by those who knew him personally as an intellectual heavyweight, he presented himself as a lightweight, semi-comic politician—the "clown prince" of Irish politics, in the words of long-time friend and journalist John Healy. He was once described by Fine Gael politician John Kelly as "like a lighthouse in the Bog of Allen, brilliant but useless". During leadership campaigns against Charles Haughey in the 1980s, Lenihan had regularly appeared on television to insist that Fianna Fáil was not divided, even as Ministers were resigning and—in an incident involving Jim Gibbons—scuffles broke out in the environs of Leinster House. Lenihan's image was dealt a further blow by a disastrous Late Late Show special devoted to him, which was broadcast only weeks before the presidential campaign started. Colleagues and friends projected an image of him as a political cute hoor—someone who would do anything and pull any stunt that he had to. As a result, Lenihan was mistrusted. =The Lenihan tape= The issue of Lenihan's trustworthiness became the central issue of the second half of the presidential campaign. In January 1982, Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald had asked President Patrick Hillery, a former government colleague of Lenihan's, to dissolve the Dáil, a request which Hillery granted.Under the Constitution of Ireland, the President has the absolute right in consultation with the Taoiseach to grant or withhold a dissolution of the Dáil. If President Hillery had refused a dissolution, Charles Haughey could have formed an alternative government and strengthened his own embattled position as leader of Fianna Fáil. Subsequently, it was reported in books by authors Stephen O'Byrnes and Raymond Smith, and by many political journalists in newspaper articles (some of whom had Lenihan as their source) that Lenihan had been one of the people who had made phone calls to Áras an Uachtaráin, the President's official residence, on the night in question, in order to persuade or pressure Hillery to refuse a dissolution. Lenihan himself never denied his involvement in the incident. Indeed, in May 1990, he confirmed his participation in an on-the- record interview with a postgraduate student and journalist, Jim Duffy. In September 1990, The Irish Times carried a series of articles on the presidency, one of which mentioned in passing the role of Lenihan, Sylvester Barrett, and Charles Haughey in making the calls. The article in question was sourced from Duffy's interview. In October 1990, in the midst of the presidential election, Lenihan suddenly changed his story. In an interview in the Irish Press and on RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme, he insisted that he had had "no hand, act or part" in efforts to pressure President Hillery. The Irish Times, which was aware that Lenihan himself was Duffy's source for the original article claim, published, with Duffy's agreement, a newspaper story confirming that Lenihan had indeed made the controversial phone calls to Áras an Uachtaráin. When Lenihan's campaign manager, Bertie Ahern, named Duffy on radio as someone who had interviewed Lenihan back in May, a political storm erupted in which the journalist was put under siege by the media and Fianna Fáil, leading to his reluctant decision, after consulting with lawyers, to release the portion of the tape in which Lenihan talked about the events of January 1982. ="On mature recollection"= Lenihan's reaction severely damaged his credibility. He appeared on a live TV news bulletin, and, looking into the camera, pleaded with the Irish people to believe him, stating that "on mature recollection" he had not phoned President Hillery and his account to Duffy had been wrong. He then requested an audience with President Hillery to seek his confirmation that he made no phone calls. No audience was granted, and his campaign manager Bertie Ahern withdrew the request – though, in a sign of the chaos enveloping the campaign, Lenihan told journalist Charlie Bird that the request was still there until the journalist played back his interview with Ahern, after which Lenihan recorded a new soundbite explaining why the request had been withdrawn.RTÉ showed the image of Lenihan listening to the RTÉ reporter's tape recorder but the fact that he was listening to Ahern's interview before re-recording his own was not explained to viewers and only became known subsequently. At this point, the opposition put down a motion of no confidence in the government. The Progressive Democrats, Fianna Fáil's coalition partner, told Taoiseach Charles Haughey that unless Lenihan was either dismissed or an inquiry set up into the events of January 1982, it would pull out of government, support the opposition motion and force a general election. Though insisting that he would put no pressure on Brian Lenihan, "my friend of thirty years", Haughey drew up a letter of resignation for Lenihan's signature. Lenihan refused to sign, and Haughey formally advised President Hillery to dismiss Lenihan from the government – which Hillery, as was required constitutionally, duly did, despite grave personal concerns. Many in Fianna Fáil were disgusted with what they saw as Haughey's betrayal of his old friend, and argued that the Progressive Democrats' threat to bring down the government was a mere bluff. This would be the first in a series of events generating discontent in Fianna Fail with Haughey's leadership, culminating in his downfall in early 1992. =Pádraig Flynn's attack on Mary Robinson= Lenihan's dismissal led to an immediate collapse in his popularity (from mid 40% to 31% almost overnight), though his standing in the polls subsequently improved. A personal attack by former cabinet colleague Pádraig Flynn on Mary Robinson, in which he accused her of showing a "new-found interest" in her family, backfired and destroyed Lenihan's campaign. Women voters rallied to Robinson and abandoned the Lenihan campaign in droves. =The result= In spite of his troubled campaign, Lenihan won the largest number of first- preference votes. However, most of the votes that initially went to Austin Currie, the third-placed candidate, transferred to Mary Robinson on the second count, in what was widely seen as a pact between Fine Gael and the Labour Party. As a result, Lenihan became the first Fianna Fáil candidate to lose an Irish presidential election. Out of government Lenihan remained active in politics right up to his death in 1995. Bitter at what he saw as his betrayal by the Progressive Democrats, he campaigned for Fianna Fáil to go into coalition with the Labour Party instead, something which happened after the 1992 general election. He also occasionally reviewed books, which showed an intellect that he had suppressed in his public persona as a politician. Death Brian Lenihan's health again deteriorated and he died in 1995, at the age of 64, sixteen days short of his 65th birthday. In the resulting by- election, his son Brian Lenihan Jnr was elected to his seat. In the 1997 general election another son, Conor Lenihan, was elected to Dáil Éireann. Brian Lenihan Memorial Lecture A Brian Lenihan Memorial Lecture is delivered annually in the Irish Institute of European Affairs. The first guest speaker was the late Lord Jenkins of Hillhead (previously known as Roy Jenkins; formerly British Home Secretary and President of the European Commission). In 2001, the lecture was given by Chris Patten, former British Conservative Party Minister and MP, former Governor of Hong Kong and current British European Commissioner. References Further reading * Bruce Arnold, Jack Lynch, Hero in Crisis (Merlin, 2001) * James Downey, Lenihan: His Life and Loyalties (New Island Books 1998) * Fergus Finlay, Snakes and Ladders (New Island Books, 1998) 1874597766 * Joe Joyce and Peter Murtagh, The Boss: Charles J. Haughey in Government (Poolbeg, 1983) * Brian Lenihan, For the Record (Blackwater Press), * T. Ryle Dwyer, Nice Fellow: A Biography of Jack Lynch (Mercier, 2001) * T. Ryle Dwyer, Short Fellow: A Biography of Charles J. Haughey (Mercier, 1995) * T. Ryle Dwyer, Fallen Idol: Haughey's Controversial Career (Mercier 1997) * Raymond Smith, Haughey and O'Malley: The Quest for Power (Aherlow, 1986) * Dick Walsh, Inside Fianna Fáil (Gill & Macmillan, 1986) External links * Vice-President Bush's speech in the White House, St. Patrick's Eve (16 March) where Brian Lenihan was guest of honour * Media report of Haughey's alleged misappropriation of money donated for Brian Lenihan's liver transplant * IRISH EXAMINER columnist T. Ryle Dwyer in 1999 on the controversy of Haughey's alleged embezzlement of funds for Lenihan's liver transplant * Review of James Downey's biography of Brian Lenihan in An Phoblacht Category:1930 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Alumni of University College Dublin Category:Candidates for President of Ireland Category:Deaths from cancer in the Republic of Ireland Category:Fianna Fáil MEPs Category:Fianna Fáil senators Category:Fianna Fáil TDs Brian Snr Category:Liver transplant recipients Category:Members of the 9th Seanad Category:Members of the 13th Seanad Category:Members of the 17th Dáil Category:Members of the 18th Dáil Category:Members of the 19th Dáil Category:Members of the 21st Dáil Category:Members of the 22nd Dáil Category:Members of the 23rd Dáil Category:Members of the 24th Dáil Category:Members of the 25th Dáil Category:Members of the 26th Dáil Category:Members of the 27th Dáil Category:MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 1973–1977 Category:Ministers for Agriculture (Ireland) Category:Ministers for Defence (Ireland) Category:Ministers for Education (Ireland) Category:Ministers for Foreign Affairs (Ireland) Category:Ministers for Justice (Ireland) Category:Ministers for Transport (Ireland) Category:Parliamentary Secretaries of the 17th Dáil Category:People educated at Marist College, Athlone Category:People from Dundalk Category:Politicians from County Westmeath Category:Politicians from Fingal Category:Tánaistí Category:Alumni of King's Inns "
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"Ruairi Quinn (born 2 April 1946) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2002, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1989 to 1997, Minister for Finance from 1994 to 1997, Minister for Enterprise and Employment from 1993 to 1994, Minister for the Public Service from 1986 to 1987, Minister for Labour from 1983 to 1986, Minister of State for Urban Affairs and Housing from 1982 to 1983. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-East constituency from 1977 to 1981 and 1982 to 2016. He was a Senator from 1976 to 1977, upon being Nominated by the Taoiseach and again from 1981 to 1982 for the Industrial and Commercial Panel. Early life Quinn was born on 2 April 1946. His family were prominent republicans in County Down in the south-east of Ulster in the 1920s, taking an active part in the IRA during the War of Independence and on the anti-Treaty side during the Civil War. The Quinn's were prosperous merchants in Newry, County Down, then moved to Dublin in the 1930s, where Quinn's father built a successful business career. Quinn was educated at St. Michael's College and Blackrock College, both in Dublin, where he was academically successful and an outstanding athlete and a member of Blackrock College's Senior Cup rugby team. From an early age, he was interested in art and won the all-Ireland Texaco Children's Art competition. This led him to study architecture at University College, Dublin (UCD), in 1964 and later at the School of Ekistics in Athens. In 1965, Quinn joined the Labour Party working for Michael O'Leary's successful campaign in Dublin North-Central. In the following years, Quinn was a leading student radical in UCD demanding reform of the University's structures and the old fashioned architectural course that then prevailed. This earned him the nickname "Ho Chi Quinn", after the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh. He travelled in Europe and became a europhile, which was to be a defining characteristic of his political career. He qualified as an architect in 1969 and married for the first time that year before embarking on studies in Athens. He and his first wife had a son and a daughter. He married again in 1990 and has a son with his second wife, the architect Liz Allman, whose family came from Milltown, County Kerry. He became employed as an architect with Dublin Corporation in 1971. In 1972, Quinn decided he would stand for the Labour Party in the next general election and hoped he would be the running mate of the sitting Labour deputy for Dublin South-East, Noël Browne. The party organisation was largely moribund since Browne's election in 1969 as Browne had been ill and little work had been done locally. When the election was called in February 1973, Quinn found he was the only Labour Party candidate as Browne refused to stand in principled opposition to the Labour Party's decision to enter into a pre- election pact with Fine Gael to form a National Coalition. Quinn lost by 39 votes to Fergus O'Brien of Fine Gael in the final count. Following the 1973 election, Quinn began to rebuild the Labour Party in Dublin South-East with his mainly youthful supporters. He won a council seat on Dublin Corporation at the local elections in 1974 in the Pembroke-Rathmines local electoral area and took a leading role in the Labour Party group on the city council. He was a partner in an architecture firm from 1973 to 1982. In 1976, he was nominated by the Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, to Seanad Éireann when Brendan Halligan won a by-election in Dublin South-West and his Senate seat became vacant. He was first elected a Labour Party TD for Dublin South-East at the 1977 general election. Quinn was at this time quite associated with environmental issues being the first professional architect and town planner ever elected to the Dáil. He served as environment spokesperson for the Labour Party and was very close to the party leader, Frank Cluskey, whom he had voted for in the leadership contest of 1977. He lost his seat at the 1981 general election and was elected to the 15th Seanad on the Industrial and Commercial Panel. He was re-elected as TD at the February 1982 general election and has retained his seat until his retirement in 2016. On 10 March 1991, Quinn was observed by Gardaí driving erratically in the Clontarf area. At Clontarf Garda Station, Quinn provided a urine sample, which showed him to have an 202 mg of alcohol for 100 ml of urine. He was banned from driving for a year and fined £250. Early ministerial career In 1982, he became Minister of State at the Department of the Environment. Between 1983 and 1986, he served as Minister for Labour. From 1986 to 1987, he was appointed Minister for the Public Service, held in addition to the Labour portfolio. In 1989, he became deputy leader of the Labour Party. He was director of elections for Mary Robinson's successful presidential election campaign in 1990. Minister for Enterprise and Employment In the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition government of 1993–1994, Quinn became Minister for Enterprise and Employment. He oversaw the merger of the former Department of Industry and Commerce with the former Department of Labour, with a new focus on enterprise development and the reduction of the then high level of unemployment. Quinn implemented reform of industrial strategy and reorganised the industrial development agencies. He also introduced the Community Employment Programme to provide activity and involvement for unemployed workers in 1994. This proved to be particularly successful. Quinn was seen as comfortable with the Fianna Fáil members of the cabinet. He also tended to be a moderniser in economic terms but, despite attempts, failed to close the Irish Steel company in Haulbowline, County Cork, a classic loss-making smoke stack industry that harked back to an earlier era. Nevertheless, it was in August 1994, while Quinn and Fianna Fáil's Bertie Ahern were economic ministers, that the Irish economy was first described as the "Celtic Tiger". Quinn, along with many of his Labour cabinet colleagues, strove unsuccessfully to keep the Fianna Fáil–Labour government together during the Father Brendan Smyth crisis in November 1994. He records in his autobiography that he still cannot understand why that Government fell. Minister for Finance The following year he became Minister for Finance in the Fine Gael, Labour Party and Democratic Left "Rainbow Coalition" government. Quinn took a relatively conservative line as Finance Minister, being conscious of his position as the first Labour Party Minister for Finance in Irish political history. He quickly proved his competence, dispelling opposition jibes and stock market fears about a social democratic minister holding the sensitive finance portfolio. The Irish economy continued to perform, while inflation and the government finances were kept under firm control. Unemployment gradually fell and public debt levels improved. During Quinn's tenure as Minister for Finance, the overall tax burden in Ireland (the ratio of tax revenue, including pay related social insurance levies, to gross national product) fell from 38.7% to 34.8%, of by 1.3 percentage points each year. He achieved this by limiting current government spending to grow by 6.8% in nominal terms or 4.8% in real terms, against a backdrop of improving economic fortunes, due to increasing investment in technology intensive sectors of the Irish economy. Under Quinn, the General Government Balance went from a deficit of 2.1% in 1995 to a surplus of 1.1% in 1997. The General Government Debt went from 81% of GNP in 1995 to 63.6% in 1997. The year before Quinn became an economic Minister in 1993, Irish economic growth was 2.5% (1992). In 1993, GNP growth was 3%; in 1994, 6.5%; in 1995, 8%; in 1996, 7.8%; and finally in 1997, 10.3%. The unemployment rate fell from 15.7% in 1993 to 10.3% in 1997. Quinn served as the President of the Ecofin Council of the European Union in 1996, and worked to accelerate the launch of the European Single Currency, while securing Ireland's qualification for the eurozone. Quinn, and his party leader and Tánaiste, Foreign Minister Dick Spring enjoyed a somewhat uneasy relationship during the Rainbow Coalition, as recounted in Quinn's 2005 memoir. At the 1997 general election the Labour Party returned to opposition, winning only 17 of its outgoing 33 seats. Many other ministers of the Labour Party were under significant pressure from the media (particularly the Irish Independent) concerning allegations of cronyism ("jobs for the boys") and abusing the privileges of office. In comparison, the opposition under Bertie Ahern placed heavy reliance on cutting tax rates as opposed to widening tax bands favoured by Quinn. Ahern also claimed credit for the country's improving economy was due to his earlier term in government. Leader of the Labour Party =Accession to leadership= In October 1997, Dick Spring resigned as leader of the Labour Party following an unsuccessful campaign by the Labour Party candidate, Adi Roche, in the 1997 Irish presidential election. Quinn defeated Brendan Howlin to become the new leader. In 1999, the Labour Party and Democratic Left merged. Proinsias De Rossa of the latter party became the largely symbolic party president, while Quinn remained as leader of the party. He used the years of leadership to develop a strong policy platform, publishing a Spatial Strategy for future development of the country, promoting universal access to health insurance, advocating reform of the Garda Síochána, and arguing for closer European integration. Fianna Fáil countered by cleverly exploiting Quinn's comfortable middle-class background, labelling him "Mr Angry from Sandymount," the middle class district of Dublin where Quinn is a longtime resident, and representative of, in the Dáil. =2002 general election= At the 2002 general election, which saw the ruling Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats government re-elected, the Labour Party returned with 1 seat less than it had held previously. Quinn fought that election on an independent platform although he indicated a preference to enter government with Fine Gael, which he had served with in the Rainbow coalition era. Quinn's strategy was predicated on the Labour Party holding the balance of power and keeping a distance from the two bigger parties. This underestimated the attraction for the electorate of the outgoing Ahern Government that had enjoyed extraordinary economic growth and prosperity. Realising that the choice was between a majority Fianna Fáil government on the one hand, or a government of Fianna Fáil in coalition with the Progressive Democrats, through their president, Michael McDowell, a constituency rival of Quinn's, seized the moment and put themselves forward as the guarantor of the public interest in a new Fianna Fáil government. This left the Labour Party stranded and almost as irrelevant to the outcome of the election. Under the leadership of Michael Noonan, Fine Gael lost 23 seats, being reduced to 31 seats, their worst performance in decades. Meanwhile, the Progressive Democrats doubled their seats to eight and emerged with two full cabinet positions in a new coalition with Fianna Fáil. Quinn was gravely disappointed that, even though Labour had not lost seats in net numbers and Fine Gael had lost 23 seats, he had failed to increase the number of seats his party held, in an election that resulted in gains for small parties on the left end of the political spectrum, such as Sinn Féin and the Green Party. Quinn himself was re-elected on the last count by 600 votes. Accepting that he would now be in opposition for another term, and seeking to spend more time with his young family, Quinn announced that he would not seek re-election for another six-year term as leader of the Labour Party, at the end of August 2002. Post-leadership In October 2002, Quinn's term as party leader expired and he retired as Labour leader, being replaced in a leadership election by Pat Rabbitte. When Rabbitte resigned as party leader in 2007, Quinn supported the successful candidacy of Eamon Gilmore. His public support of Gilmore, where he also brought the endorsement of all the Dublin City Councillors in his area, was seen as instrumental in discouraging other candidates from entering the race. Quinn caused anger and controversy when he refused to give up his ministers pension worth €41,656 while sitting as a TD in 2009. He eventually backed down after pressure was put on him to give up the pension. He led the European Movement Ireland, a pro-EU lobby group in Ireland until late 2007, when he re-founded the Irish Alliance for Europe to campaign on the Treaty of Lisbon. Quinn is also Vice-President and Treasurer of the Party of European Socialists. He is a brother of Lochlann Quinn, former Chairman of Allied Irish Banks, and a first cousin of Senator Feargal Quinn. His nephew, Oisín Quinn, was a Labour Party Dublin City Councillor between 2004 and 2014, and a one-time Dáil candidate in 2007. In 2005, his political memoir, Straight Left, was published. 2007 general election At the 2007 general election, Quinn increased his share of the poll by some 4% and was returned to the 30th Dáil. He was nominated for the post of Ceann Comhairle but was defeated by John O'Donoghue. Quinn became Labour Party spokesperson on Education and Science as a member of Eamon Gilmore's front bench in September 2007. He played a pivotal role in the successful second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in September 2009, and continues to be an office holder with the Party of European Socialists. 2011 general election In September 2010, Quinn was appointed the Labour Party's national director of elections for the 2011 general election by Gilmore. He had been selected along with Kevin Humphreys to be a candidate for Labour in that election. Both Quinn and Humphreys were elected to the 31st Dáil on 27 February 2011, by clever vote management that saw the Labour Party in Dublin South-East secure two seats with only a quarter of the first preference vote. Minister for Education: 2011–2014 On 9 March 2011, Quinn was appointed as Minister for Education and Skills in the new Fine Gael–Labour coalition government. In May 2011, he confirmed a U-turn on a pre-election pledge that he would reverse a proposed increase in third level student registration fees, instead providing for a €500 increase in the fee payable by students. In July 2011, Quinn had again refused to rule out the return of college fees as he acknowledged the funding crisis in the higher education sector. The Minister told a meeting of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) the funding crisis in higher education will “not go away” for many years to come. Asked if new charges were planned he said: “I honestly can't say. We are looking for efficiencies in the system at third level. ... I have said to Brendan Howlin that I will deliver.” In October 2012, Quinn announced the phasing out of the current Junior Certificate programme over the next eight years, to be replaced by a school- based model of continuous assessment. He described his plan as "the most radical shake-up of the junior cycle programme since the ending of the Inter Cert in 1991", and claimed the scrapping of the Junior Certificate exams would help the “bottom half” of students. On 12 October 2012, Quinn, speaking to an audience at an anniversary celebration for St Kilian's German school, said the “demons of nationalism” and “chauvinism” embedded in our cultures would only stay under control if there was a deeper European culture. The private school, in Clonskeagh, Dublin, celebrated its 60th anniversary, having been founded after the second World War to cater for child refugees from Germany. Between 1945 and 1946, Operation Shamrock, initiated by the Irish Red Cross, resettled over 400 children from postwar Germany, as well as from Austria, France, and United Kingdom. Many of the children, some as young as three years old, had lost their parents in the war, while others had their homes destroyed. He went on to say “will only stay in the place where they belong if we have more Europe, if we have a deeper Europe, if we have a wider Europe”. On 29 January 2013, Quinn launched Ireland's first national plan to tackle bullying in schools including cyberbullying. The Action Plan on Bullying set out 12 clear actions on how to prevent and tackle bullying. In February 2013, Quinn published legislation to replace the largely discredited state training and employment agency, FÁS, with a new statutory body named SOLAS. On 2 July 2014, Ruairi Quinn announced his decision to resign as Minister for Education and Skills, which became effective in the cabinet reshuffle on 11 July. He also said that he would not be seeking re-election to the Dáil after the next general election. See also *Families in the Oireachtas Bibliography * References External links * *Ruairi Quinn's page on the Labour Party website Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of University College Dublin Category:Labour Party (Ireland) TDs Category:Leaders of the Labour Party (Ireland) Category:Local councillors in Dublin (city) Category:Members of the 13th Seanad Category:Members of the 15th Seanad Category:Members of the 21st Dáil Category:Members of the 23rd Dáil Category:Members of the 24th Dáil Category:Members of the 25th Dáil Category:Members of the 26th Dáil Category:Members of the 27th Dáil Category:Members of the 28th Dáil Category:Members of the 29th Dáil Category:Members of the 30th Dáil Category:Members of the 31st Dáil Category:Ministers for Education (Ireland) Category:Ministers for Finance (Ireland) Category:Ministers of State of the 24th Dáil Category:People educated at Blackrock College Category:People educated at St Michael's College, Dublin Category:Nominated members of Seanad Éireann Category:Labour Party (Ireland) senators Category:People from Sandymount "