John Bruton RIP

Oscar_Madison

I thought he was a decent man RIP

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/former-taoiseach-john-bruton-has-died-aged-76/a615938608.html

The Royal Scam

He was a good politician and seemed to have the best interests of the country as party leader and Taoiseach. Current FG ministers would not be relevant compared to him anyway. RIP.

tobefrank321

Very sad. RIP.

TheValeyard

Did well with the Rainbow coalition and working with the EU.

Not so well with VAT on children's shoes. Wouldn't agree with his commonwealth views, but he was genuine about them.

I dont remember any corruption scandals following him around, seemed to be a decent sort. And very pro democracy and party tradition.

Think history will be kind to him.

RIP

elperello

RIP

On a personal level a very friendly nice man.

bog master

Although I disagreed with many of his policies, I will echo a fair and decent man. RIP

Eoinbmw

RIP seemed like a good man!

Packrat

I remember severely disliking him and agreeing when I heard him referred to as "John the Unionist"

I'd take him a hundred times over the three self serving treasonous fxxkers we're dealing with now though.

RIP. He did no major harm.

Wanderer78

rip

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728185#Comment_121728185

Yes may John Bruton rest now, the work is done. As regards his empathy with the position of NI unionists, that in itself was very important to smooth the way towards the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement.

Comhrá

A decent man and one of our most honourable politicians.

Head and shoulders above our present party leaders. R.I.P. to him.

batman75

Sad news. An honourable and decent man. Well educated, confident and self assured. Like all of us he made mistakes but for the most part had the best interests of the country at heart. Rest in peace.

Trigger Happy

He was the brightest leader we have had since Garret in the 80s IMO. RIP.

PropJoe10

A decent man and good politician. Served his people with distinction. RIP.

tobefrank321

You'd wonder how the country would have turned out if he won the 1997 election? From memory, FG/Labour were viewed as fiscally conservative, whereas Bertie and FF were willing to throw the dosh around. But I don't think it can be doubted that FG/Labour managed to steady the ship and lay solid economic foundations for the future.

I could be wrong on a few of these, but his governments major achievements were launching TG4, deregulation of national radio, opening of LUAS, fiscal stability and some key moves on the North which brought about a ceasefire, although that ended. There was controversy too, clearing of FG debts, handing out of mobile phone licence, and probably one or two others.

Overall not a bad government though.

Oscar_Madison

To hold a coalition government together in the 90s was no easy task - I think that’s where historians will see his strengths as a leader.

Larbre34

As a staunch Fine Gaeler, I'm saddened to hear of John Bruton's passing.

I wouldn't have had a huge respect for him in my youth, when he was Opposition leader to Albert Reynolds. I thought he was out of his depth somewhat, but I acknowledge and believe he grew into leadership and became an important Taoiseach, in a tumultuous enough time on this island and in Europe.

May he Rest in Peace

CaboRoig

Seems to have been a decent man and a good public servant. I certainly would have strongly disagreed with his view that Ireland should rejoin the Commonwealth. RIP.

taratee

Head and shoulders above our present party leaders. Politics aside, he always came across as a decent man. R.I.P.

Sorolla

Ireland was lucky to have had Albert Reynolds and John Bruton working closely with John Major.

Without the courage and vision of these 3 men - there would have been no peace process

RIP

10000maniacs

RIP. He was perhaps the political wing of Conor Cruise O'Brien.

I don't think the Good Friday agreement would have happened if he was still in power in 1998. He was too against SF and too close to the Unionists.

On the other hand, I don't think the financial crash would have been as severe for the country if he was still Taoiseach in 2008.

Montage of Feck

He did no harm and left the country a better place after his period in government. Compared to most taoiseach that I can remember is an achievement.

Kermit.de.frog

Very sad. Deserves great credit for the work he did having to go around Europe trying to help repair the country's reputation after the financial crash as a result of Fianna Fáil's handywork.

It would been considerably less likely the country would have gotten itself in to that mess had FG/Lab gone another couple of terms.

RIP.

BrianD3

If the main criticisms that are thrown at him are about VAT on children's shoes and calling him John Unionist, he did very well. I'd choose him over any of his successors.

He was Taoiseach during an optimistic time in this country. Not necessarily all his or his government's doing but they certainly deserve credit. If that government had continued for a few more years, we might have been on a more stable and sustainable footing.

sligeach

I think John Burton was an honest man. I echo what others have said, he's far better than the shower in charge at the moment. He helped lay the foundations for the Good Friday agreement. He helped start the Celtic Tiger by lowering our corporate tax rate to one of the lowest in Europe. Latterly, he was the European Union's ambassador to Washington. He was a good servant to the country. RIP.

keeponhurling

I'm sure he died a happy man having seen Charles take the throne.

RIP.

10000maniacs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728762#Comment_121728762

One thing he should have done when in power was to reel in the banks and legislate for them to cut their cloth to their actual size when giving out loans to developers.

He didn't but neither did Reynolds or Bertie.

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728550#Comment_121728550

A pathetic and churlish comment, which reflects far worse on you than on John Bruton.

Politics is the art of compromise. It was years of Charlie Haughey's unnecessarily provocative rhetoric that meant people like Reynolds, Bruton and Ahern had to go some distance to mend fences and establish a working relationship again with John Major's government.

Without Bruton playing his part, we wouldn't have had the momentous weekend we've just had.

So Bruton will get the respect of a State funeral. I just wonder how many will be at yours.....

markodaly

One of our better Taoiseach, and presented a more realistic view of what it was to be Irish than the 'Oh ah up the Ra' that constituted Irishish with some today.

If they won the 97 election, we would have escaped the worst of the crash ten years later.

Didn't have a cult of personalities like Ahern or Haughey but that is a good thing, considering the disasters they left behind.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729007#Comment_121729007

Disgraceful, disrespectful comments.

Using a terrorist to justify them is even worse.

10000maniacs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729094#Comment_121729094

Ok on the day that's in it, perhaps it was a bit insensitive on rover_runner's part. But I remember Prince Charles first visit to Ireland and John fawning over him like a lost gosling.

I remember feeling embarrassed and bewildered as an Irishman.

I think I remember him saying at the time "it was the best day of my life".

enricoh

Met him once doing a clinic in the local hotel. The woman ahead of me barking that she wanted new windows n doors in council house. Me in next saying I got knocked for planning for my business.

He was after being taoiseach n I remember saying to myself - sod that traipsing around the country on a rainy Tuesday listening to this crap.

He told me apply again - I did n got the nod. Dunno if he pulled any strings or not but a daycent skin nonetheless

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729094#Comment_121729094

Hear, hear.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728550#Comment_121728550

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728792#Comment_121728792

Bruton was able to rise above such narrow closed mindsets, he had a skill in drawing them out. Even in death he has made such people look very foolish. Far worse than any VAT on children's shoes.

Bruton knew the importance of statesmanship, and is one of those who successfully dragged those blinkered people who were more concerned with destruction at worst / or petty symbolism at best - back into the democratic process. He kept a close eye on those who wanted to destroy the ROI from within, and forced them to change "strategy".

Both from the point of view of those who styled themselves to be "freedom fighters" or those who viewed themselves as druglords who thought they could act with impunity, while living in the lap of luxury. He fought against the destructive mindset.

The Criminal Assets Bureau (brought in by Bruton) and the SCC worked hand in hand to solve this.

---

History will look at him as one of those generation of politicians who got the outcasts of Irish politics who behaved like savages, to behave like dignified human beings, and eventually, getting that subset to grow up and cop themselves on.

While some in Irish politics were insular, petty, backward, and local in mindset. Bruton looked beyond that towards Europe and a brighter future for the Republic.

It is thanks to politicians like Bruton that Ireland now has enormous "soft power" at the heart of Europe, and beyond. Something only other countries can envy, and many of whom are nations who are of a much larger populous.

When history looks back on Bruton he will be viewed in a very favourable light, helping set Ireland up for the 21st century.

keeponhurling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728486#Comment_121728486

Not sure on the financial crash bit. Would he have done any better ?

He launched the infamous "Celtic Snail" Fine Gael campaign, about how the economy was moving too slow. When in fact it was overheating if anything.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729007#Comment_121729007

Even Gerry has the decency to respectful today, although he cloaks it as Gaeilge, as he knows his supporters who will be most disappointed by this fact can't actually read it.

https://twitter.com/GerryAdamsSF/status/1754829965231575312

And no one likes a funeral with no soup and sambos after. You'll be the talk of the parish.

Strumms

He was in some manners talented….

But I never liked him or his politics. This is an example….from 2014

https://www.thejournal.ie/gerry-adams-john-bruton-1916-rising-1605903-Aug2014/

he made some other very disparaging comments later too on the centenary in 2016….

Never liked him in the Daíl, smug, condescending, aggressive, belittling, arrogant, dismissive.. Varadkar uses some of the same playbook but is less aggressive..

if he genuinely thought 1916 was a mistake, if anyone did, as a mark of respect if you’d any sliver of decency, considering thousands of families lost loved ones…. you’d just not express that and say… “well out of respect for people, that’s my opinion but I’ll hold onto it..”". Unbelievably crass..

Never liked the cut of his jib, one of our worst Taoiseach.

RIP and all that but…he wasn’t for me.

Tony EH

It's a hell of a comment on our political class when the best thing one can say about a dead Taoiseach is that "he did no harm".

:/

Packrat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729538#Comment_121729538

I agree and I was the one who said that.

It's pretty damning of the current incumbents particularly, given the revenues and advantages they have compared to former Taoisigh, that they could fcuk it up so badly, fail the people, and do such great harm.

On the day he dies, old can't get nursing home care, sick can't get hospital nor gp care and today in the final insult, children can't be educated. All in a country "awash with money".

They have destroyed our state.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729530#Comment_121729530

So you expected him to lie? He wasn't afraid to give his opinion whether you agreed with it or not. And he drew many people out because of it. It was almost as if he was waiting for the reaction

The Reality is Bruton was giving an alternate viewpoint to the PR job of Padraig Pearse who cleverly tied with Gaelic mythology and symbolism. Romantic republicanism is only a very recent invention.

Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Ireland from the annals of Ulster going way back knows that Irishness is far more complex than Pearse's simplistic PR job. Irish people are a mix of Nordic/Viking, French, Anglo-Irish, and Celtic. Ireland was a "European hub" long before the term hub was coined. There used to be Irish clan v Irish clan, some with Vikings some without, old Irish vikings fighting New Irish Vikings. Sure Dublin has a GAA club called Naomh Olaf's. After the man with Viking lineage turned Monk/Saint.

https://www.medievalists.net/2023/11/st-olaf-an-international-norwegian-saint/

That was globalism medieval style.

My point is Bruton thought in much broader sense like St Olaf, he did not think of "Irishness" in the narrow Pearse Republican narrative, he did not think in an insular parish pump manner, or Republican Gaelic Mythology.

Years ago I probably would not have agreed with Bruton's comments, but as I got older and matured. Moved away from the flag waving symbolic narrative, you do have to think was it worth it? What did it achieve? And were their viable alternatives? He had the courage to question the prevailing narrative many trot out, at the very least he got a reaction with the comments, at best he made people think. Reassess their viewpoints, etc

crossmax1970

Seemed to be a good man but a dreadful politician...

Spanish Eyes

He was head and shoulders above the leaders of today. A man of integrity, albeit with views that not everyone agreed with. It strikes me that statesmanship is missing nowadays and it appears to be all me fein. Well that's how I feel about it.

I know it was a different time and we have moved on a bit, but the days of Bruton were not easy to navigate either. He was respected in life and will be respected in death.

May he rest in peace.

So the worst thing that can be thrown at him is meeting King Charlie near 30 years ago?

Is that it?

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729787#Comment_121729787

He was a what we call now, a WUM... wind up merchant... said for reaction and to annoy, hurt and disparage people.... he has a record of that..

I don't expect lies but from a politician , a prime minister I expect levels of diplomacy, good judgement and cop on.... and not that level of BS....

If something similar was said by a French PM about their revolution... a lot less docile a reaction..

tobefrank321

I believe the context of his Commonwealth statement was as a price for Irish Unity.

The Commonwealth isn't in great shape anyways and a couple of nations have left or are planning to leave. The Queen was big into it, but now there just isn't the same unifying leader there.

Ultimately the Commonwealth is a pretty meaningless organisation, and our head of state would still have been the Irish president. We could have left it at any stage once Irish unity was achieved.

Cluedo Monopoly

He seemed like an honest politician and had Ireland's interests at heart.

RIP.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729530#Comment_121729530

"Smug", "arrogant" and "condescending" are usually Boards shorthand for "has strong principles that I personally don't agree with".

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729847#Comment_121729847

I look at it this way he gave as good as he got. No doubt there are certain cohorts hammering him on other areas of social media far worse than this thread. But that says to me showed he stood by his viewpoint to think broader, not being swayed by the narrow more popular ones. Bruton wanted Ireland to get out it's backward provincial type thinking. He really manages/managed to draw certain gombeens out with such comments. Helped to lift the mask a bit IMO.

He was very consistent with his comments and was invited to speak in plenty of forums during the "decade of centenaries". Giving the "alternate view".

Plenty of politicians today go missing, go vague, obfuscate, or decline to comment when asked to address difficult subjects. Bruton was not afraid to give his opinions. You knew where he stood like him or not. He was not beholden to a very recently invented narrow ideology, and narrative.

beertons

My uncle was his driver for years. Johnny baby we used to call him. You could just imagine the laughing going on, with 2 Meath men in the car.

Galwayguy35

There is an account over on X and the comments are just disgraceful about someone who has just passed away.

boardise

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121729530#Comment_121729530

I reckon that John Bruton ,like the vast majority of Irish people, would have been distressed and disgusted that 'thousands of families lost loved ones' as a result of the IRA decades long spree of murder and destruction from 1970s ...as savage as it was pointless.