Albert Reynolds - Post-Taoiseach Period

Post-Taoiseach Period

Reynolds remained on as a TD following his resignation. At the beginning of 1997 he was thinking of retiring from politics at the next general election, which would have to be held during that year. Bertie Ahern, encouraged him to run and offered him the position of "peace envoy" to Northern Ireland and his support as a candidate for the presidential election. Fianna Fáil won the election, however, Ahern reneged on this promise to Reynolds due to poor election results in his constituency and the change in the political situation in Northern Ireland. However, Reynolds was still interested in being a candidate for the presidency, along with two other candidates, Michael O'Kennedy and Mary McAleese. In a meeting of ministers the Taoiseach gave a typically ambiguous speech which seemed to encourage his Cabinet to support McAleese. Although Renyolds won the first round of voting with a comfortable margin, supporters of O'Kennedy backed McAleese. McAleese was successful and went on to become the eighth President of Ireland. Reynolds was humiliated by Ahern and many of the ministers he had sacked when he came to power in 1992. He retired from politics at the 2002 general election after 25 years as a TD. Reynolds has said that I don't bear any grudges over Ahern.

Reynolds was involved in a long-running libel action taken against British newspaper The Sunday Times on foot of an article published in 1994. It alleged that Reynolds had deliberately and dishonestly misled the Dáil regarding matters in connection with the Brendan Smyth affair that had brought down the coalition government. The newspaper claimed a defence of qualified privilege with regard to these assertions on foot of their supposed benefit to the public, but a High Court jury found in favour Reynolds in 1996. However, the jury recommended that no compensation at all be paid to the former Taoiseach. The judge subsequently awarded punitive damages of only one penny in this action, leaving Reynolds with massive legal costs, estimated at £1 million. A subsequent court of appeal decision in 1998 declared Reynolds had not received a fair hearing in his High Court action and the case continued to be heard in the House of Lords. This case led to the recognition under British law (and later introduction into Irish law as the "defence of fair and reasonable publication") of the so-called Reynolds defence of qualified privilege for publishers against whom libel actions regarding defamatory comments made in media publications are being taken.

Perhaps the most interesting story concerning the retirement of Albert Reynolds is his relationship with the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf. In 1999 General Musharraf became President of Pakistan following a military coup. The White House at the time had a policy of not recognizing governments that came to power through a coup d'état. Reynolds was asked by business associates to travel to Pakistan and meet with Musharraf. Musharraf then asked Reynolds to act as an advisor to him and to contact U.S. President Bill Clinton to reassure the White House as to the intentions of the new government of Pakistan. Reynolds also claimed in interviews with Irish radio that because of the trust built up between himself and Musharraf he was later asked to arrange peace talks between India and Pakistan. These talks started in early 2001 but the September 11 attacks caused them to stall. After the attacks Musharraf could not get in contact with the White House. He called Reynolds, and Reynolds then called former US President Bill Clinton, who quickly contacted President George W. Bush to communicate the Pakistani position.

In July 2008, it was reported that Reynolds was medically unfit to give evidence at the Mahon Tribunal because of "significant cognitive impairment". Reynolds had been due to give evidence on several previous occasions on payments he allegedly received when he was Taoiseach. Speaking about his former boss, RTÉ sports commentator George Hamilton said that it is a pity Reynolds' mental capacity had diminished. "He was razor sharp", said the broadcaster, who is also a qualified rugby union referee.

Reynolds receives annual pension payments of €149,740.

In 1993, Reynolds and Bertie Ahern, who was then Minister for Finance, wrote to developer Owen O'Callaghan seeking a substantial donation. At the time O'Callaghan was heavily involved in lobbying for state support for a stadium project at Neilstown, County Dublin. According to the report, O'Callaghan felt compelled to donate a sum of IR£80,000 to Fianna Fáil in order to get funding for the stadium. The Mahon Tribunal said it did not find the payment to be corrupt. However, the report said pressurising a businessman to donate money when he was seeking support for a commercial project was "entirely inappropriate, and was an abuse of political power and government authority".