Andrews reveals Burke blockade
Mr Andrews, in his memoir, Kingstown Republican, recalls that Bertie Ahern when forming his first government, rang him to say that he (Mr Andrews) would be minister for foreign affairs and Ray Burke would have responsibility for the North.
“I was of course delighted with this, but my delight was short-lived. It seems that Burke objected strenuously to being given the limited responsibility of just Northern Ireland.
“An hour later Bertie rang me back to say he had to change his mind and I was going to be minister for defence and European affairs, with Burke holding onto the rest of the foreign affairs brief, including Northern Ireland.”
Subsequently, Mr Andrews lost the European affairs brief when the Department of Foreign Affairs objected to the section being removed from Iveagh House. He said he believed Mr Burke also connived in this.
However, within four months, Mr Andrews was reinstated after Mr Burke resigned from the Dáil after corruption charges, for which he later served more than four months in jail.
In his memoir, tracking his 37-year career as a TD from 1965 to 2002, Mr Andrews recalls the enmity between him and Charles Haughey that delayed his elevation to minister until Albert Reynolds became Taoiseach in 1991.
Written in a conversational style, Mr Andrews, a practicing barrister, recalls his involvement in the peace process and life-long commitment to humanitarian causes in Africa and elsewhere. He also explains his reasons for not throwing his hat in the ring as a Fianna Fáil presidential candidate in 1997, when Bertie Ahern secretly backed Mary McAleese over Albert Reynolds.
He writes that Mary O’Rourke always disliked him, that he never had any regard for Charles Haughey, that Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams were the most amazing negotiators he ever encountered, and Mary Robinson was remarkably formal.
Writing of her, he says: “I think she found it very hard to relax with people. She was as formal with Annette (his wife) and me as she was with foreign dignitaries, even though I knew her previously from the Oireachtas (she was a senator) and the Law Library. There was a stiffness and reserve about her that was reflected in her body language.”
Kingstown Republican: A Memoir by David Andrews is published by New Island.
