Enterprise, Jobs and Investment Minister Richard Bruton is returning to a department he last led in 1994 and a familiar face may be no bad thing. Emma Blee writes.
Richard Bruton is no stranger to the Department of Enterprise but during his 17-year break a lot has changed.
While his priorities then would have been to build on the boom of the Celtic Tiger, he will now be tasked with ensuring Ireland’s economic recovery.
A native of Meath, politics and economics have always been a passion for Bruton. He graduated from Oxford with a MPhil in economics and completed a thesis on the subject of Irish public debt. He is a research economist by profession and worked at the Economic and Social Research Institute when he left university. He also worked at the tobacco company PJ Carroll before making his move into politics.
Bruton has built a solid constituency base in Dublin North Central and was first elected to the Dáil in 1982. He served as Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Commerce (1986-1987) and was also appointed opposition spokesman for enterprise and employment.
In 1994, he helped to negotiate the Rainbow Coalition between Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Democratic Left. In that Government, his brother John became Taoiseach and he took the high profile Fine Gael position of Minister for Enterprise and Employment (1994-1997).
Following the 2002 general election, he was one of the few front bench Fine Gael TDs to retain his seat. When Michael Noonan − party leader at that time – resigned, Bruton was appointed deputy leader of the party and spokesman for finance.
Despite being well-known as an outspoken politician, Bruton surprised many when he challenged Enda Kenny’s leadership in June last year. He was sacked from his position and Kenny told the media: “Richard’s decision leaves me with no option but to relieve him of all his responsibilities”.
However, in July he was appointed party spokesman on enterprise, jobs and economic planning.
Some commentators have criticised the new cabinet as lacking in “new blood” but UCC politics lecturer Jane Suiter argues that Bruton’s experience in the department could work to his advantage.
“We’ve had problems with incumbents to the job over the past 10 years because they didn’t understand the challenges. It’s useful that he has been there before and knows what the challenges are and he knows individuals within the department.”
The academic explains that a lot of Bruton’s work will involve building relationships with businesses overseas and she believes this is a position “that plays to his strengths”.
“He was a very good finance spokesman before he was moved to enterprise, and I would expect him to do well in this role. A lot of his work will be interacting with major multi-nationals and I think he will do that very well.
“He will be a more effective Enterprise Minister than he would have been a Finance Minister.”
Suiter says she did wonder if the role would have been better suited to someone with a business background but it shouldn’t be a problem if the new Minister is “surrounded by the right advisors”.
