Reynolds, Albert

Person

Reynolds, Albert

• Reynolds, Albert Martin

1932–2014

Reynolds, Albert Martin (1932–2014), businessman, politician and taoiseach, was born in Roosky, Co. Roscommon, on 3 November 1932, youngest of four children of John P. Reynolds and his wife Catherine (née Dillon) from Cloone, Co. Leitrim. From 1971–4, Reynolds was an elected member of the Fianna Fáil National Executive, and director of elections for Longford in the 1973 general election. In 1974, he won the nomination of Fianna Fáil’s party election convention for local election and became TD of the Longford-Westmeath constituency. He was appointed Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and later for Transport. Between 1979 and 1991 in four administrations led by Haughey, Reynolds always occupied an economics ministry. Between 1979 and 1991 in four administrations led by Haughey, Reynolds always occupied an economics ministry. In the 1987 general election, Fianna Fáil won three out of four seats in Longford–Westmeath, strengthening Reynolds’s position in the party, and gave the midlands constituency two cabinet ministers till 1991, though the third seat was lost in 1989. Reynolds was appointed Minister for Industry and Commerce, and in 1988 became Minister for Finance. He succeeded Charles Haughey as Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil on the 11 February 1992. After the Labour Party resigned from government in November 1994, Reynolds resigned as leader of Fianna Fáil, but remained taoiseach in a caretaker capacity, while Berite Ahern attempted to re-form the Fianna Fáil–Labour government before later resigning as taoiseach. As ex-taoiseach he continued to be a member of the Council of State, and Reynolds remained a TD till 2002. He died on 21 August 2014, and was buried in Shanganagh Cemetery in south Dublin.

By Martin Mansergh, Dictionary of Irish Biography (2021) DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.010167.v1

IE DCUA

ISAAR (CPF)

2022-04-28

• Béarla

Dictionary of Irish Biography (2021), https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.010167.v1