Sometimes even experienced civil servants can be sloppy in crafting words. In May 1997, John Holmes, private secretary to Tony Blair, less than a week after Blair became prime minister, wrote him a note suggesting John Bruton was “nice, straightforward and violently anti-IRA, but bound to follow a policy designed to bring Sinn Féin in to the talks ... Bruton is as good a Taoiseach as we are ever likely to get from a British point of view”.

Bruton was replaced as Taoiseach the following month and as it turned out, his successor Bertie Ahern did not prove to be a barrier to progress from the British perspective, even if he did not earn the tautological label “violently IRA”. Blair and Ahern worked well together and garnered accolades to the extent that some of Bruton’s admirers think his role in the peace process has been unduly neglected. Graham Spencer’s Inside Accounts (2020) includes an interview with former diplomat and civil servant Dermot Gallagher, who was asked to respond to the idea that “in the narrative of the peace process Albert Reynolds and Bertie Ahern are cited as the key figures. John Bruton is often, not dismissed, but not spoken about in the same way.” Gallagher noted Bruton’s “different background” from Reynolds and Ahern, “but he was determined to move the process forward... determined to drive it on, but personally found it a bit more difficult.”

It was clear........

© The Irish Times