Reynolds rightly claims the peace dividend — before losing the plot

WE all know that Albert Reynolds, Taoiseach from 1992 to 1994, hasn’t always enjoyed the kindest press. It’s not just The Sunday Times that has been harsh.

Nor has it been simply a matter of what he did or didn’t do — over Larry Goodman, over the X case, over Harry Whelehan.

Frankly, some seemed to question whether he was ever the right sort of person to lead modern Ireland. Not to put too fine a point on it, there was something about him that some, not least in the media, found irritating. A lot of people, including some in Fianna Fáil, didn’t regard the one-time dog food manufacturer as “one of us”.