George Colley

His father was a veteran of the 1916 Easter Rising and a former adjutant in the Irish Republican Army (IRA), who was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1944, as a Fianna Fáil candidate.

He was educated at St Joseph's Secondary C.B.S. in Fairview, where one of his classmates and closest friends was Charles Haughey, who later became his political arch rival.

George Colley (18 October 1925 – 17 September 1983) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from 1977 to 1981, Minister for Energy from 1980 to 1981, Minister for Tourism and Transport from 1979 to 1980, Minister for the Public Service from 1977 to 1979, Minister for Finance from 1970 to 1973 and from 1977 to 1979, Minister for the Gaeltacht from 1969 to 1973, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1966 to 1970, Minister for Education from 1965 to 1966 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands from 1964 to 1965.

Colley was born in the Dublin suburb of Fairview, in 1925.

He was the son of Harry Colley and Christina Colley (née Nugent).

He studied law at University College Dublin and qualified as a solicitor in the mid-1940s.

He remained friends with Haughey after leaving school and, ironically, encouraged him to become a member of Fianna Fáil in 1951.

Haughey was elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1957 general election, ousting Colley's father in the process.

This put some strain on the relationship between the two young men.

He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1961 to 1983.

Colley was elected to the Dáil at the 1961 general election, reclaiming his father's old seat in the Dublin North-East constituency.

Furthermore, he was elected in the same constituency as Haughey, thereby accentuating the rivalry.

Thereafter, Colley progressed rapidly through the ranks of Fianna Fáil.

He became a member of the Dáil at a time when a change from the older to the younger generation was taking place, a change facilitated by the Taoiseach Seán Lemass.

He was active in the Oireachtas as chairman of some of the Joint Labour Committees, which were set up under the Labour Court, to fix legally enforceable wages for groups of workers who had not been effectively organised in trade unions.

He was also leader of the Irish parliamentary delegation to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Colley's work as a backbencher was rewarded by his appointment as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands in October 1964.

Following the return of Lemass's government at the 1965 general election, Colley joined the cabinet as Minister for Education.

He introduced a plan to establish comprehensive schools, set up an advisory council on post-primary school accommodation in Dublin, and introduced a school psychological service.

He was promoted as Minister for Industry and Commerce, in a cabinet reshuffle in July 1966, and he continued the government policy of economic expansion that had prevailed since the late 1950s.

In November 1966, Seán Lemass resigned suddenly as party leader.

Colley contested the subsequent leadership election.

He was the favoured candidate of party elders such as Seán MacEntee and Frank Aiken, the latter managing Colley's campaign and annoyed at Lemass's quick decision to retire before Colley had built up his support.

Colley was considered to be in the same mould as the party founders, concerned with issues such as the peaceful re-unification of the country and the cause of the Irish language.

Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney, also declared their interest in the leadership; however, both withdrew when the Minister for Finance, Jack Lynch, announced his candidacy.

Colley did not back down and the leadership issue went to a vote for the first time in the history of the Fianna Fáil party.

The leadership election took place on 9 November 1966, and Lynch beat Colley by 59 votes to 19.

When the new Taoiseach announced his cabinet, Colley retained the Industry and Commerce portfolio.

Following Fianna Fáil's success at the 1969 general election, Colley held onto his existing cabinet post and also took charge of the Gaeltacht portfolio, an area where he had a personal interest.

He used this dual position to direct industrial investment to Gaeltacht areas.

He set about changing the traditional view of the Irish-speaking regions as backward and promoted their equal claim to the more sophisticated industries being established in Ireland by foreign investment.

In the wake of the Arms Crisis in 1970, a major reshuffle of the cabinet took place.

Four Ministers, Charles Haughey, Neil Blaney, Kevin Boland and Mícheál Ó Móráin, were either removed, or resigned, or simply retired from the government due to the scandal that was about to unfold.

Despite his defeat by Jack Lynch in the leadership contest four years earlier, Colley had remained loyal to the party leader and had become a close political ally.

He was rewarded by his appointment as Minister for Finance, the second most important position in government, while retaining the Gaeltacht portfolio.

Colley was regarded as a predictable Minister and the ultimate safe man, as a highly orthodox Keynesian.

His decision to introduce budget deficits in his first three budgets was even welcomed by the opposition.

He oversaw the decimalisation of the Irish currency in 1971.

He also championed the introduction of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and argued the financial case for it in 1972, as the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht.

In 1973, Fianna Fáil were ousted after sixteen years in government when the national coalition of Fine Gael and the Labour Party came to power.