No it wasn’t. There were huge arms supplies coming in from Libya. The East Tyrone brigade were having huge success in demilitarising the border areas. South Armagh was a no go area for any occupying force.
He certainly had a baptism of fire when he took office, sacks 8 ministers and then X case lands on his desk.
One thing that is over looked is that he laid the foundation for the turn around in the economy that seen the country grow in the late 90’s. He managed to get 8 billion in funds from Europe as well.
I really disliked Albert Reynolds. I found him to be a huge egomaniac - very quick to big up his ‘achievements’, while at the same time, if the stories are true, was as crooked as hell.
Everyone goes on about his role in the peace process and how he ‘brought about the first IRA ceasefire’. Bullshit. That ceasefire was on the cards from the early 80s when Adams made the first moves to Fr Alec Reid that the IRA were ready to give up their guns. There were discussions with Haughey and even Thatcher after that as well as John Major. All it took for Albert to do was to not fuck it up. In fairness to him, he managed that unlike Bruton a couple of years later.
If you compare his legacy on the North to that of Bertie, it pales insignificance. Bertie reached out to the Unionists and along with Blair managed to bring them into the peace process. First Trimble and then incredibly Paisley.
Couple of other lesser points on him. Fans of Reeling in the Years will recall him being involved in a stand off between some religious nut who had hijacked an Irish aircraft around France. People on that plane subsequently said that Reynolds acted the complete cunt, with little interest for the safety of those on board but more interested in getting on camera. It certainly fits.
Finally I remember the time C&D foods burned down and he went on the Late Late Show crying about it. How many other factories and houses burn down in Ireland and it is rare you would see the owners crying on the Late Late Show about it. He probably retired to hi penthouse in the Four Seasons afterwards to soften the blow.
[QUOTE=“farmerinthecity, post: 1003901, member: 24”]I really disliked Albert Reynolds. I found him to be a huge egomaniac - very quick to big up his ‘achievements’, while at the same time, if the stories are true, was as crooked as hell.
Everyone goes on about his role in the peace process and how he ‘brought about the first IRA ceasefire’. Bullshit. That ceasefire was on the cards from the early 80s when Adams made the first moves to Fr Alec Reid that the IRA were ready to give up their guns. There were discussions with Haughey and even Thatcher after that as well as John Major. All it took for Albert to do was to not fuck it up. In fairness to him, he managed that unlike Bruton a couple of years later.
If you compare his legacy on the North to that of Bertie, it pales insignificance. Bertie reached out to the Unionists and along with Blair managed to bring them into the peace process. First Trimble and then incredibly Paisley.
Couple of other lesser points on him. Fans of Reeling in the Years will recall him being involved in a stand off between some religious nut who had hijacked an Irish aircraft around France. People on that plane subsequently said that Reynolds acted the complete cunt, with little interest for the safety of those on board but more interested in getting on camera. It certainly fits.
Finally I remember the time C&D foods burned down and he went on the Late Late Show crying about it. How many other factories and houses burn down in Ireland and it is rare you would see the owners crying on the Late Late Show about it. He probably retired to hi penthouse in the Four Seasons afterwards to soften the blow.[/QUOTE]
Jump to 2.25-
[QUOTE=“ChocolateMice, post: 1003905, member: 168”]Jump to 2.25-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Q6Z1xmoSY
[/QUOTE]
Big Tom up straight after him 
[QUOTE=“tazdedub, post: 1003889, member: 312”]He certainly had a baptism of fire when he took office, sacks 8 ministers and then X case lands on his desk.
One thing that is over looked is that he laid the foundation for the turn around in the economy that seen the country grow in the late 90’s. He managed to get 8 billion in funds from Europe as well.[/QUOTE]
:rolleyes:
Redeemed by the brilliant Paul Cleary & The Blades later on!
Great goal by Jacko in that All-Ireland as well. Super move from one end of the field to the other with 2 men who are sadly no longer with us prominent in it.
[QUOTE=“farmerinthecity, post: 1003901, member: 24”]
Finally I remember the time C&D foods burned down and he went on the Late Late Show crying about it. How many other factories and houses burn down in Ireland and it is rare you would see the owners crying on the Late Late Show about it. He probably retired to hi penthouse in the Four Seasons afterwards to soften the blow.[/QUOTE]
It wasn’t his first building that burned down, thankfully they were all insured.
I think as politicians go he wasn’t the worst. We could do with him or Bertie in government now to focus somewhat on the north and continue the pan nationalist front that they were part of. The current shower could yet prove disastrous as along with the tories couldn’t give two shits about the north and still pander to unionists rather than pressuring them to recommence negotiations after the Hass talks.
We are at a very low ebb in the north at present. 20 years since the first ceasefire and 16 years since the Good Friday Agreement and there are still elements of it that have not yet been implemented.
Its a fuckin disgrace that the likes of labours Alan Kelly saying SF still had a long way to travel??
At least Albert had some cop on and didn’t squander the opportunity he was given.
The peace process went backwards when Bruton replaced him as Taoiseach.
Manchester happened, canary wharf happened & the baltic exchange happened
England surrendered
Albert was a good guy, he has a bit of initiative in him that went beyond the law & ethics now and again which is good, brought the peace process forward & was an alright sort
I always thought his real surname was Factor.
if you want to survive on here you’d better cop on
he used to go to the races a lot, always seemed to be isolated and on his own, wouldn’t say he had too many friends in FF after his tenure…did the state some service and was certainly better than what came after, RIP
Bertie Ahern on Newstalk now going on about how great Albert was, when Bertie was stabbing him in the back.
Albert’s first ministerial gig was as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs in the 1979 government. It is hard now to comprehend how poor the telephone service was then. You had to wait months and in some cases, years to get a phone line to your house. The lads who worked for the P&T were experts in acting the cunt. A common gag at the time was what’s the slowest thing in the world, a P&T van on overtime. Having a phone line was a major selling point for a house. Albert made wild promises about delivering 75,000 phone lines a year at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis. He hammered the point home by going on the Late Late and singing Put your Sweet Lips a Little Closer to the Phone. He was widely lampooned for this but my memory of it was that he delivered on the promise.
This is true to a large extent. Then again, the man he succeeded as Minster for Posts and Telegraphs was the odious Conor Cruise O’Brien, who spent most of his time trying to stymie the development of the system in case “subversives” would have the temerity to communicate with each other.
as a reminder to times past, there is one of those orange and white P+T marked vans abandoned on the road between lahinch and Spanish point…
[QUOTE=“Young Ned of the Hill, post: 1003923, member: 80”]Manchester happened, canary wharf happened & the baltic exchange happened
England surrendered[/QUOTE]
When Thatcher came to power she thought she could blast the IRA away.
Soon afterwards she went to the table with Adams and McGuinness.
The Brits surrendered if anyone did.
Being pedantic about it he actually succeeded Padraig Faulkner who was FF minister from 77-79. Faulkner was the classic old style utterly useless Fianna Fáil Minister, in the manner of Gene Fitzgerald, Sylvester Barrett and Tom Nolan.