(b. Co. Roscommon, 3 Nov. 1932) Irish; Taoiseach (premier) 1992 – 4 Reynolds made himself a millionaire as a ballroom proprietor and with his own dog-food business in the Irish midlands. He was elected to the Dáil as a Fianna Fáil deputy in 1977 and served as a minister in three governments, 1979 – 81, 1982, and 1987 – 92. He became Taoiseach and party leader in February 1992, on the resignation of Charles Haughey. In his only general election as Taoiseach, that of November 1992, his party lost nine seats, but was saved in office by forming a coalition with Labour, with its leader, Dick Spring, as deputy premier (January 1993). His major achievement was the Downing Street Declaration of 15 December 1993, negotiated jointly with British premier John Major, which set out a series of declaratory principles upon which the British and Irish governments would seek to create a lasting settlement of the Northern Ireland conflict. Subsequently Reynolds played a major part in coaxing the IRA into its ceasefire of 31 August 1994, including securing visas for the USA for leading Sinn Fein members. On 6 September 1994 Reynolds, with John Hume and Gerry Adams, took part in a historic handshake at government buildings, Dublin. Relations with his Labour coalition partners were always uneasy, however, and they broke down in November 1994 over a senior judicial appointment. Reynolds was obliged to resign on 17 November 1994. Essentially a non-ideological "fixer" who had shown little interest in the Northern Ireland conflict before coming to the premiership, Reynolds had the advantage over his two immediate predecessors in the lightness of preconceptions brought by him to the problem. His unexpected loss of office however was a product of the mistrust engendered domestically by the dealer politics associated with his party. In particular Reynolds's reputation was dogged by a complicated imbroglio concerning state-provided export credit insurance for beef sales, negotiated during his period as Minister for Finance.

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