Garret FitzGerald RIP

[magpie seanie]

RIP alright.

He took a lot of flak for his apperance to be 'lacking balls' in dealing with the northern troubles during his term as taoiseach. He was also 'blamed' for backing down and because of this the hunger strikers were allowed die - only for the british gov to quietly u turn and give the 5 demands eventually.
However Garret told republicans at the time (and in a meeting with him not too long ago a relation and neighbour of mine when at a function) that he felt powerless to help , that the british gov (thatcher) had told him that there was nothing he could do to intercede - so Garret got a bad rep with republicanism over this - and he was really only being practical, which I think he was all along as a politician.
He certainly tried to get involved in the northern problems, the sunningdale treaty is now attributed to being the fore runner of the GFA etc - but sure any one of us can predict a reunited Ireland with all citizens included with equality, single police force, single health care and benefits system and be 100% correct when this time comes. Sunningdale was useless as the establishment in the north didnt subscribe to the equality ideals at that time.
Its only since the majority vote garnered by SF & SDLP made the establishment and unionist/loyalist parties HAVE to play ball and embrace 'equality' at long last.

Garret , a highly intelligent man, good for the country as a forward thiking democracy as well as he made FF shake themselves up after Garret's gove made huge and disasterous economic mistakes.

I'd say he was a patriot. RIP Garret.

I'd go along with that by and large. The bit in bold shows though that he completely underestimated the problems faced by catholics/nationalists in the 6 counties and this is why he will be viewed unfavourably by many of them. Would not always have agreed with him but not a bad man.

[Main Street]

Ironically, wasn't it the anti HBlock vote in the 1981 general election that pushed Fine Gael over the line and into government?

[lynchbhoy]

Ironically, wasn't it the anti HBlock vote in the 1981 general election that pushed Fine Gael over the line and into government?

from recollection MS I thought it was more the prev few years bleakness in the economy etc (much like recently) with FF presiding over it that gave fg their chance.
They fecking ballsed it up (much as they will most likely do this time too - Greece's recent events and subsequent reduced bailout terms will no doubt benefit us and rescue fg to a certain extent).
I think at the time fg were seen to be less involved or didnt really care as much about the north, HS etc as FF at least 'said' they were !
There was feck all that any of them could do, unlike now where the southern gov DOES have an input into the north !

[Nally Stand]

No disrespect to the man and May God Rest his Soul but unfortunately I will always remember him for his refusal to meet the family of Bobby Sands and his treatment of certain other family members of the Hunger Strikers. In an article from the Bobby Sands Trust, it mentions how:
"The McCreeshes and Liz O'Hara had dealt with An Taoiseach, Charles Haughey in order to save Raymond and Patsy's lives. He promised that neither would die. He did nothing to save them. Goretti McDonnell, Joe's wife, and Eilish Reilly, Joe's sister, had to deal with both Haughey and the new Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. If Haughey was bad, and he was bad, Garret Fitzgerald was, according to Goretti, "one hundred times" worse."
He also famously asked the Gardaí to forcibly remove two of Tom McElwee's sisters from his office after a meeting with them.

[rrhf]

An intelligent,contradictory and important man who history will be kind to. He  made some huge mistakes but was a few years ahead of others at the time on other matters. Arrogant when he was wrong. Worth listening to when he was right.  A typical irishman.
RIP

[Blowitupref]

The man deserves a great send off RIP Garret

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

The man deserves a great send off RIP Garret

I hope this dose not sound petty but I hope there is no state funeral, it is not the time or place to flitter away money on such things. It was a disgrace Haughey ever got one.

[muppet]

Garrett was a good man with a great intellect. He certainly got some things wrong. His legacy will always to be compared with Haughey and in that there is no contest. Whoever said he was 100 times worse than CJH must have preferred being humoured by a liar to being let down by someone telling the truth. Their choice I suppose.

RIP Garrett.

[ross4life]

He was a man you could listen to all day, great man will be missed RIP

[5 Sams]

He was a man you could listen to all day, great man will be missed RIP

From what I hear his style of chairing meetings meant that you sometimes HAD to listen to him all day.

RIP

[muppet]

@twitter:

"Garret Fitzgerald couldn't tell a lie, Charlie Haughey couldn't tell the truth and Bertie Ahern couldn't tell the difference"

[Main Street]

Ironically, wasn't it the anti HBlock vote in the 1981 general election that pushed Fine Gael over the line and into government?

from recollection MS I thought it was more the prev few years bleakness in the economy etc (much like recently) with FF presiding over it that gave fg their chance.

Yep, I don't disagree with that. FG did outstroke FF in the political campaign promises.  But afair, FG still had not enough in 1981.
FF might have stumbled over the line (with an overall majority of 1) or a hung parliament, if the Anti Hblock vote had not pinched away crucial first prefs votes from FF in Sligo/Leitrim as well as FF losing the 2 seats directly to them in Louth and Monaghan.

Fitzgerald proved to be less than useless in1981. His public utterances at that time were a cringing embarrassment, devoid of political, diplomatic or compassionate nous, as bad an image as the bumbling Bertie could ever manage.
I wasn't around when Garret did lead a stable government and Al Gore hadn't invented the internet then.

[Capt Pat]

Was he not also part of Cosgrove's "Heavy Gang" government in the 70s which brought in Section 31 while sitting on their thumbs as Dublin and Monaghan were bombed? Then the treatment of Uachtarán Ó Dálaigh. Then there was the economic performance of the government he led, the Anglo-Irish Agreement sop to the SDLP which probably held back peace by 10 years, the Hunger Strikes, the New Ireland Forum which excluded a substantial part of Irish citizens. He might have been a nice man an all but let's not dishonour him by eulogising him beyond his life. A good thinker, an intellectual yeah, but by no means was he a successful politician. 
[/quot







and Bertie was a successful politician. Having a debt wrote off by the banks was as corrupt as any other bribe that was paid. It is just the way people thought the banks were great honourable institutions and Garret didn't do anything for it. Nothing except putting himself in the pockets of the bank.

Rest in peace Mr Honesty and Integrity

[The Watcher Pat]

R.I.P

Doesn't matter what people think of him in death....Let the guy Rest in Peace..

[orangeman]

@twitter:

"Garret Fitzgerald couldn't tell a lie, Charlie Haughey couldn't tell the truth and Bertie Ahern couldn't tell the difference"

Watched a tribute to him there on Primetime - one very intelligent, sincere and decent man.