Dancer Albert a fast mover on political stage

ON radio yesterday morning, Olivia O’Leary, who chronicled his era in power as a political reporter, recalled the time she danced with Albert Reynolds. He was, she said, a great dancer.

I saw Albert and his wife Kathleen take to the floor years ago at a Fianna Fáil function — they could have won prizes for ballroom dancing. He moved instinctively with the music. So it was with Reynolds the politician. He was a politician, possessed of a grace and fleetingness in form that belied his critics. He was deeply rooted and utterly determined.

His history as a successful entrepreneur is well recited. But what is now underestimated is how rare success was for indigenous Irish business in the 1960s and 70s. He had form in making something out of virtually nothing, and seeing opportunity where others could not, long before he entered politics. He was unusual too, in that he was a self-made man twice over, first in business and then in politics.