Albert Reynolds

Albert Reynolds, 1994

Albert Reynolds ( Irish : Ailbhe Mac Raghnaill , born November 3, 1932 in Roosky , County Roscommon , † August 21, 2014 in Dublin ) was an Irish politician and Prime Minister ( Taoiseach ) of Ireland from 1992 to 1994 .

Life

After initially working as a businessman, Reynolds entered active politics relatively late. In 1977 he was elected to the lower house of the Irish Parliament ( Dáil Éireann ). From 1979 to 1981 he was Minister of Post, Minister of Industry and Energy in 1982 and Minister of Industry and Economy in 1987. In 1988 he was appointed Minister of Finance. He held this office until 1992, when he was elected Prime Minister in the Reynolds 1 government to succeed Charles J. Haughey . Also in 1992 he became chairman of the Fianna Fáil party . With the British Prime Minister John Major he negotiated the "Downing Street Declaration" of December 15, 1993, in which both declared that it belonged exclusively to the population of the Irish island, i.e. the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, by mutual agreement on the future of Ireland to determine. This declaration was an important intermediate step towards the settlement of the Northern Ireland conflict ; it became one of the requirements of the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998.

After the failure of the coalition with the Irish Labor Party , he resigned in December 1994 from his post as prime minister and party chairman.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Jochen Buchsteiner: Albert Reynolds died . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of August 22, 2014, p. 4.

Web links

• Obituary at BBC News (English)
• Douglas Dalby: Albert Reynolds Dies at 81; Peacemaking Irish Premier. Obituary in The New York Times, August 21, 2014