Richard Bruton

For the actor, seeRichard Burton.

Richard Bruton TD
Bruton in 2013
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2016
Constituency	Dublin Bay North
In office February 1982–February 2016
Constituency	Dublin North-Central
Chair of the Fine Gael parliamentary party
In office 23 July 2020 – September 2023
Leader	Leo Varadkar
Preceded by	Martin Heydon
Succeeded by	Alan Dillon
Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment
In office 11 October 2018 – 27 June 2020
Taoiseach	Leo Varadkar
Preceded by	Denis Naughten
Succeeded by	Eamon Ryan
Minister for Education and Skills
In office 6 May 2016 – 16 October 2018
Taoiseach	Enda Kenny Leo Varadkar
Preceded by	Jan O'Sullivan
Succeeded by	Joe McHugh
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
In office 9 March 2011 – 6 May 2016
Taoiseach	Enda Kenny
Preceded by	Mary Hanafin
Succeeded by	Mary Mitchell O'Connor
Deputy leader of Fine Gael
In office 12 June 2002 – 14 June 2010
Leader	Enda Kenny
Preceded by	Jim Mitchell
Succeeded by	James Reilly
Minister for Enterprise and Employment
In office 15 December 1994 – 26 June 1997
Taoiseach	John Bruton
Preceded by	Charlie McCreevy
Succeeded by	Mary Harney
Minister of State
1986–1987	Energy
Senator
In office 8 October 1981 – 18 February 1982
Constituency	Agricultural Panel
Personal details
Born	(1953-03-15)15 March 1953 Dublin,Ireland
Political party	Fine Gael
Spouse	Susan Meehan ​ (m.1988)​
Children	4
Relatives	John Bruton(brother)
Education	Belvedere College Clongowes Wood College
Alma mater	University College Dublin Nuffield College, Oxford
Website	richardbruton.ie

Richard Bruton(born 15 March 1953) is an IrishFine Gaelpolitician who has served as aTeachta Dála(TD) forDublin Bay Northsince 2016, and previously from 1982 to 2016 for theDublin North-Centralconstituency. He was theChair of the Fine Gael parliamentary partyfrom July 2020 to September 2023. He previously served asMinister for Communications, Climate Action and Environmentfrom 2018 to 2020,Minister for Education and Skillsfrom 2016 to 2018,Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovationfrom 2011 to 2016,Deputy leader of Fine Gaelfrom 2002 to 2010,Minister for Enterprise and Employmentfrom 1994 to 1997 andMinister of State for Energy Affairsfrom 1986 to 1987. He was aSenatorfor theAgricultural Panelfrom 1981 to 1982.

Early and private life

Bruton was born inDublinin 1953, but grew up inDunboyne,County Meath.He is a son of Joseph and Doris Bruton.He was educated atBelvedere College,Clongowes Wood College,University College DublinandNuffield College,Oxford.At Oxford, he graduated with aMPhilinEconomics,his thesis being on the subject of Irish public debt.He is a research economist by profession.After university he worked at theEconomic and Social Research Institute.This was followed by two years in the tobacco companyP. J. Carroll,before moving on to his final private sector job atCRH.

He is the younger brother ofJohn Bruton,who wasTaoiseachfrom 1994 to 1997.

Bruton is married to Susan Meehan; they have four children, two sons and two daughters.

Early political career: 1979–1992

Bruton was elected toMeath County Councilin1979and was elected toSeanad Éireannin 1981, as a Senator for theAgricultural Panel.At theFebruary 1982 general election,he was elected toDáil Éireannas a Fine Gael TD for theDublin North-Centralconstituency.After an initial period on the backbenches, Bruton was appointedMinister of State at the Department of Energy,following the dismissal ofEdward Collinsin September 1986.In opposition after 1987, Bruton served in a number offront benchpositions including,Energy,Natural Resources,Health,Enterprise and Employmentand Director of Policy. He was also the campaign manager for his brotherJohn Bruton's successfulparty leadership bidin 1990.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment: 1994–1997

Following the1992 general election,Fianna Fáiland theLabour Partyformed a coalition government, which collapsed in 1994. Bruton then helped to negotiate theRainbow Coalitionbetween Fine Gael, the Labour Party andDemocratic Left.In that government, his brother John Bruton becameTaoiseach.Bruton was appointed asMinister for Enterprise and Employment.

Return to Opposition: 1997–2011

A return to opposition in 1997 saw Bruton become OppositionSpokesperson on Education and Science,a position he held until he was appointed Director of Policy and Press Director in a reshuffle in 2000. After losing the2002 party leadership electiontoEnda Kenny,Bruton was retained on the front bench and promoted toDeputy leaderas well asSpokesperson on Finance.After an unsuccessful leadership challenge in 2010, he was demoted toSpokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Innovation.

Dublin City Council: 1999–2003

He was elected toDublin City Councilin 1999, representing theArtanelocal electoral area.He relinquished this seat whendual mandateswere banned in 2003.

Fine Gael leadership election: 2002

Fine Gael had a disastrous election result at the2002 general election;Bruton was one of the few frontbench Fine Gael TDs to retain his seat. The party lost 23 of its 54 TDs; party leaderMichael Noonansoon resigned following the poll. Bruton stood as a candidate in the subsequentleadership election.He was defeated byEnda Kenny,but he was appointed Deputy leader of Fine Gael and Spokesperson forFinance,posts he maintained until 2010.

Deputy leader and Spokesperson on Finance: 2002–2010

Bruton was appointed Finance spokesperson in 2002. In that role he was a consistent critic of government economic policy. In particular, he warned about the government's overreliance on the property sector, and said that the government was ignoring the erosion of competitiveness and the loss of export market share as a growing construction sector temporarily insulated the economy from their effects.

In 2006, he told the Dáil that the government had "doubled its dependence on the construction sector to support its revenue. A total of 25% of every tax euro spent by the government comes from the construction sector. We are not in a strong position; we are, in fact, in a vulnerable position".

Bruton raised concerns about the payment of benchmarking awards. In 2003, on behalf of Fine Gael, he proposed a motion that the payment of the remaining phases of benchmarking be suspended pending implementation of a serious reform package so that the €1.3 Billion cost of benchmarking would be matched by commensurate improvements in public services.

Fine Gael leadership challenge: 2010

On 14 June 2010, Bruton was sacked as Deputy leader and Spokesperson on Finance, by his leader Enda Kenny, after he informed his colleagues that he would be proposing a leadership challenge against Kenny.Kenny explained that he and Bruton had had a series of discussions in which Bruton said he had lost confidence in him. Kenny later told the media that "Richard's decision leaves me with no option but to relieve him of all his responsibilities". He also said that "some unnamed people have done huge damage to Fine Gael through their anonymous comments to the media which has resulted in an opinion poll dominating the news agenda". He then assigned responsibility for the Finance portfolio to DeputyKieran O'Donnell.

The first TD to come out in support of Bruton before his sacking was frontbencherFergus O'DowdfromCounty Louth.Nine other members of the front bench publicly expressed no confidence in Kenny's leadership. These includedLeo Varadkar,Simon Coveney,Brian HayesandOlivia Mitchell.

On 17 June 2010, a meeting of the parliamentary party was held and the 70 members cast their vote. The outcome was that the parliamentary party voted confidence in Enda Kenny as leader. Bruton then declined to comment as to whether he would serve in Kenny's front bench, despite saying earlier that it would be hypocritical to do so. On 1 July 2010, he was appointed by Kenny as Spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Innovation.

Return to Government: 2011–2020

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: 2011–2016

Bruton was appointed by the newTaoiseachEnda Kenny asMinister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovationon 9 March 2011.

Bruton launched the first annual Action Plan for Jobs in 2012. The Plan's high level target was to create 100,000 net new jobs by 2016. Bruton announced in May 2015, that the target to create 100,000 additional new jobs had been hit almost two years early. The Action Plan is based on setting realistic targets and focusing on them until the measures required are in place. InThe Irish Timesin early 2014, Stephen Collins wrote approvingly that "hundreds of commitments in the programme are steadily being delivered by Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton"and a year later described the annual plan which is "driven by Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton" as being "one of the outstanding success stories of the Coalition’s term".In an editorial theIrish Independentsaid that Bruton deserves credit for the manner in which the Action Plan for Jobs has been crafted and implemented across a range of government departments over the last three years.A review of the Action Plan for Jobs by theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) concluded it had led to two significant developments in Irish public governance. One is a concerted whole of government policy implementation with political backing and oversight at the highest level. The other important development noted by the OECD is the rigorous quarterly monitoring and reporting system modelled on the troika programme.

While campaigning for the government before theEuropean Fiscal Compact referendumon 17 May 2012, Bruton admitted on live radio the possibility of there being a second referendum if the Irish people voted "No".

Minister for Education and Skills: 2016–2018

Following the2016 general election,there wasa delay in government formation.On 9 May 2016, after talks had concluded on forming a new government, Enda Kenny appointed Bruton asMinister for Education and Skills.Bruton launched the first Action Plan for Education in September 2016. The Plan's high level ambition is to make Ireland's education and training system the best in Europe by 2026. Following the election of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach, Bruton was reappointed as Minister for Education and Skills on 14 June 2017.

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment: 2018–2020

After MinisterDenis Naughten's resignation from government due to controversy surrounding the National Broadband Plan, Bruton becameMinister for Communications, Climate Action and Environmenton 11 October 2018. He was re-elected at thegeneral election in February 2020,but was not appointed to cabinet in theGovernment of the 33rd Dáil.

On 22 July 2020, Bruton was elected chair of the Fine Gael parliamentary party. He served as chair until September 2023, when he was succeeded byAlan Dillon.

On 5 September 2023, he announced that he would not be contesting thenext general election.

External links

• Official website
• Richard Bruton's page on Fine Gael website