41 Facts About John Bruton

John Bruton served as a Teachta Dala from 1969 to 2004.

John Bruton served as the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States from 2004 to 2009, and is a former vice-president of the European People's Party.

John Gerard Bruton was born to a wealthy, Catholic farming family in Dunboyne, County Meath, and educated at Clongowes Wood College.

John Bruton later went on to study at University College Dublin, where he received an honours Bachelor of Arts degree and qualified as a barrister from King's Inns, but never went on to practice law.

John Bruton was narrowly elected to Dail Eireann in the 1969 general election, as a Fine Gael TD for Meath.

John Bruton was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce and to the Minister for Education, in the National Coalition in 1973.

John Bruton is married to Finola Bruton and they have four children.

John Bruton was later promoted as Spokesperson for Finance, making a particular effective speech in the Dail in response to the budget of 1980.

John Bruton played a prominent role in Fine Gael's campaign in the 1981 general election, which resulted in another coalition with the Labour Party, with FitzGerald as Taoiseach.

John Bruton received a huge personal vote in Meath, and at the age of only 34 was appointed Minister for Finance, the most senior position in the cabinet.

The minority Fianna Fail government which followed only lasted until November 1982, when Fine Gael returned to power in a coalition government with the Labour Party, but when the new government was formed, John Bruton was moved from Finance to become Minister for Industry and Energy.

John Bruton was of on Fine Gael's right wing, whereas Dukes was in FitzGerald's social democratic and liberal mould.

John Bruton, who was the deputy leader of Fine Gael at the time, was unopposed in the ensuing leadership election.

Whereas Dukes came from the social democratic wing of Fine Gael, John Bruton came from the more conservative wing.

However John Bruton's perceived right wing persona and his rural background was used against him by critics and particularly by the media.

Fine Gael, and John Bruton personally, continued to perform poorly in opinion polls throughout 1993 and early 1994, John Bruton narrowly survived a challenge to his leadership in early 1994.

John Bruton was able to persuade Labour to end its coalition with Fianna Fail and enter a new coalition government with Fine Gael and Democratic Left.

John Bruton faced charges of hypocrisy for agreeing to enter government with Democratic Left, as Fine Gael campaigned in the 1992 general election on a promise not to enter government with the party.

Whereas most leaders had come from or identified with the independence movement Sinn Fein, John Bruton identified more with the more moderate Irish Parliamentary Party tradition that Sinn Fein had eclipsed at the 1918 general election.

John Bruton hung a picture of IPP leader John Redmond, his political hero, on a wall in his office as Taoiseach, in preference to other figures such as Patrick Pearse.

John Bruton established a working relationship with Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, however both were mutually distrustful of each other.

However, John Bruton received widespread praise in the Republic for condemning the Royal Ulster Constabulary for yielding to loyalist threats at Drumcree by allowing members of the Orange Order to parade through a nationalist district.

John Bruton stated that the RUC had been neither impartial nor consistent in applying the law.

John Bruton presided over a successful Irish Presidency of the European Union in 1996, and helped finalise the Stability and Growth Pact, which establishes macroeconomic parameters for countries participating in the single European currency, the euro.

John Bruton was the fifth Irish leader to address a joint session of the United States Congress on 11 September 1996, as the 30th head of state or government of an EU country to do so since 1945.

John Bruton's government suffered from some allegations of corruption, and political embarrassment.

John Bruton vehemently denied this and Fine Gael counsel told the Planning Tribunal in 2003: "I refute [sic] entirely Mr Dunlop's contention that he advised me then of the alleged demand made to him by the late Tom Hand".

However, following further evidence at the tribunal, John Bruton returned to it in October 2007, and conceded that "it gradually came back to me", that Dunlop, "did say to me something about a Councillor looking for money".

John Bruton presided over the first official visit by a member of the British Royal Family since 1912, by Charles, Prince of Wales.

In Britain, The Times accused him of being "embarrassingly effusive" while The Guardian lambasted that John Bruton get a grip on his "extravagantly nonsensical attitudes".

John Bruton himself viewed the fact that the heir to the British throne could visit the Republic successfully, as marking an important turning point in Anglo-Irish relations and stands over the comments he made as appropriate in the circumstances.

John Bruton was deposed from leadership in 2001, in favour of Michael Noonan, due in part to fears Fine Gael would suffer severe losses in the 2002 election.

John Bruton was one of two National Parliament Representatives to sit on the 12-member Praesidium, which helped steer the European Convention.

John Bruton is a member of the Comite d'Honneur of the Institute of International and European Affairs, along with Peter Sutherland and Bertie Ahern.

John Bruton accepted an offer to become European Union Ambassador to the United States, in the summer of 2004, and after resigning from the Dail on 31 October 2004, he assumed that office.

John Bruton received an Honorary Doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2003, and from the University of Missouri in 2009.

John Bruton's brother, Richard Bruton, is a Fine Gael politician, and has served in a number of ministerial roles, most recently as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

John Bruton was very much an outside shot for the position as EU leaders firmly indicated they want a chairman-style president rather than a high-profile figurehead to fill the post.

John Bruton was widely discussed as a candidate for the 2011 presidential election and was approached by Fine Gael with the opportunity to become their candidate; on 28 May 2011 John Bruton issued a statement that he was "flattered" to be asked, but would not be a candidate for the presidency.

In September 2014, on the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Home Rule Bill, John Bruton said the 1916 Easter Rising was a mistake and an unjust war.

John Bruton supported the "No" campaign during the 2018 Irish referendum on abortion.