John Bruton at 70: 'Don't mention retirement, there's too much to do!'

Signs of spring were all around John Bruton’s sturdy, stately-looking home outside Dunboyne on Tuesday afternoon of last week - daffodils,  a sunsplashed, verdant front lawn, bordered by row of tall, ancient trees.    
It was an idyllic rural scene; the grey-coloured house the kind of old but elegant place you might expect a great statesman to spend his retirement, preoccupied with no more weighty matters then what to put in - or not to put into - his memoirs.

One indication that you have just entered the garden of somebody who has lived a life less ordinary is the hut on the right just inside the front gate that houses a Garda, 24/7. It’s the kind of security every former Taoiseach receives, whether he likes it or not.  
Then the man himself appears at the front door to greet you, wearing a shirt and tie, dark blazer, light coloured slacks; familiar attire for this very public figure. There’s also that familiar laugh, and it’s heard frequently during an hour’s discussion.
In May, John Bruton will turn 70 and he could be forgiven if he moved down a gear or two; that he spent his days at his pleasant home instead of jetting around the world.   
However, the former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach - and brother of current Government Minister Richard Bruton - simply doesn’t do retirement. The idea of spending a couple of months every year on a beach in Spain, whiling away the time is, you suspect, about as appealing to this passionate European integrationist as an invitation to a Boris Johnston-sponsored anti-EU rally.

Instead he pursues a gruelling schedule. He travels a lot; he lectures; he writes; he’s on the board of Ingersoll Rand International; he’s involved in a small venture capital company. He also pursues “other endeavours” that includes trying to bring investment into Ireland. His recent schedule included a trip to London to promote investment in his native county; his beloved Royal County.

 NOW WATCH: John Bruton on his proudest moments in politics

But why? Why maintain the kind of agenda a man 20 years younger might find exhausting? Is it something altruistic in his nature that compels him to continue to work towards the betterment of society?
It is the fact that he was educated by the Jesuits at Clongowes Wood College where the values of hard work and making a contribution to society are encouraged? Or is it simply because politics is embedded in John Bruton’s DNA?   
“Retirement? It’s not that I don’t believe in it but as long as there are opportunities to do things that I find worthwhile I’ll continue to do so,” he says after he sits down in one of his, ornament-filled front rooms in the house previously owned by his grand-uncle who (according to Oliver Coogan in his book ‘Politics and War in Meath 1913-23’ ) once banned local aristocrats from hunting on his land during the War of Independence.
“I wouldn’t overstate the altruistic thing, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t benefit from it, I think,  but I like to be busy,” he adds before going on to talk about his life in politics in which he held a slew of ministries including Finance (twice) Industry and Energy (later Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism) and Public Service before he eventually reached the top of the greasy poll.
His CV takes some beating. He was only 22 when he was first elected to the Dail in 1969. He became Taoiseach in 1994 when he was just 47, the youngest man ever to attain the office, with his party forming the so-called ‘Rainbow Coalition’ with Labour and Democratic Left.

He was labelled by some sections of the media as an ultra conservative but his government was quick to promote the referendum to abolish the prohibition on divorce. Other initiatives included the launch of the Anglo-Irish ‘Framework Document’ with British PM John Mayor. Bruton is also credited with kick-starting a sturdy economic recovery and presiding over a strong EU presidency. He also welcomed Prince Charles to a visit to Newgrange and Trim in 1995, although he took considerable stick for describing the visit as “one of the best days of my life.” 

Fine Gael lost the 1997 general election and Bruton was toppled as Fine Gael leader in 2001, after just over 10 years as party head. He subsequently stepped away from the Dail and filled prestigious roles including that of the first EU Ambassador to the United States for four years.

Reflecting on his career Bruton would undoubtedly change some things if he had the chance again but he dosen’t go there. There’s simply no mileage in regrets, he believes. “What’s the point,” he says.  

An insight into why Bruton not only survived but thrived in politics for so long - and why he repeatedly garnered a huge haul of first preference votes in his native county - can be glimpsed in his attitude to what is a fundamental aspect of many Irish politicians’ lives - the local clinic.
There were days when Bruton sat in Government buildings in Dublin grappling with the lofty affairs of state - and evenings when he travelled miles to “a draughty hall” somewhere in his Meath constituencey to hear people pouring out their troubles; their failure to obtain a grant to repair their septic tank, their struggles to acquire a medical card.

Instead of looking at these clinics as some form of Chinese water torture Bruton loved engaging with the public. His tribe. He had a talent for remembering names, often writing down details in a school copybook. 
“I always loved doing clinics, it was one of the things I enjoyed about politics. I would arrive at say 10 at night to the St Vincent de Paul hall in Oldcastle and discover there were about 10 or 15 people there to see me. That didn’t phase me, because it was tremendous that people would open their lives to you as a politician. You would learn more about about other people’s lives through helping them with whatever small issue they had,” he says.
He talks about how he found the clinics “helpful in bringing me back down to earth and seeing life in a different perspective.” More than that he saw it as a privilege, one of the nicer trappings of office.
“I believe I was able to help a lot of people as much by helping them to clarify what their own problem was rather than by any string I was able to pull, if you know what I mean. It’s very often a process of helping people to understand what their options are.”
“Now it is true, if you are vey policy orientated and you really don’t have the temperament for sitting in a draughty hall listening to people’s problems then politics will be more difficult for you. Fortunatley I never minded that, in fact I enjoyed sitting in a draughty hall.”

Reflecting on his early life Bruton reckons he wanted to be a politican from about 15 onwards. He was, like many young men of his era, inspired by John F Kennedy before the president’s “other issues” came to light.
Young Bruton enjoyed debating verbally duelling with an opponent over some burning issue of the day or other. It was one of the reasons why he wanted to pursue law as a profession and why he qualified as a barrister. He also loved history - and he figured that one way of actually making history was to get involved in politics.
It was his love of debating that also helped him find one of the most influential figures in his life - his wife Finola.

See Part II of the interview with John Bruton in the week's Meath Chronicle.