Bruton salutes historic legacy of John Redmond

HISTORY HAD not "done justice" to the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond, the EU ambassador to the US and former taoiseach John Bruton said at the Mansion House in Dublin last night.

Speaking at the launch of Redmond: The Parnellite, the first in a two-volume biography by Dermot Meleady (published by Cork University Press), Mr Bruton said he had "very strong feelings" on the book's subject.

"He was, as the book tells you, regarded as the greatest parliamentary orator of his time; John Redmond's capacity to hold the House [ of Commons] in his hand was equalled only by Gladstone," Mr Bruton said.

"He won the consent of people all over the world for the idea that the Irish were capable of ruling themselves . . . The crowning achievement came on September 18th, 1914, when the Home Rule Bill was placed on the statute book."

However, Home Rule was suspended for the duration of the first World War.

Coming in the wake of the 1916 Rising, the general election of 1918 rejected Redmond's legacy and his "policy of engagement and negotiation" in favour of "abstention and violence".

The attendance at the Oak Room of the Mansion House included two great-grandchildren of Redmond, John Redmond Green and Dr Mary Green.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times