Ruling Ireland Party Picks Fired Minister as Premier

Albert Reynolds, once fired from the Irish Cabinet, easily won a leadership contest Thursday to replace Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey as head of Ireland’s ruling Fianna Fail (Soldiers of Destiny) Party.

He will formally be elected as prime minister by Parliament next week.

But Reynolds, 59, confessed that his joy is marred by the upsurge of sectarian and political violence in British-ruled Northern Ireland that has claimed 26 lives already this year.

“I look forward to working with the British prime minister (John Major) to try to end the cruelty of this continuing conflict. That cruelty comes from a dwarfed and twisted patriotism which sees inflicted deaths as instruments of change,” he said.

Haughey, a resilient political survivor who dominated Irish politics through a tumultuous decade of scandals and leadership challenges, was forced to step down after allegations that he knew about the tapping of journalists’ telephones back in 1982.

Reynolds, dismissed as finance minister in November after joining an unsuccessful revolt against Haughey, scored a resounding victory in the leadership contest, winning 61 votes to just 10 for Agriculture Minister Michael Woods and six for Health Minister Mary O’Rourke.

Reynolds was born in Rooskey in County Roscommon and made his fortune as the founder of C and D Foods Ltd., a pet food company.

Reynolds and his wife, Cathleen, have two sons and five daughters.