Former minister and MEP Gerry Collins dies aged 88

The former Fianna Fáil minister, TD and MEP Gerry Collins, who played a major role in Irish politics during the tumultuous Haughey years, has died. He was 88.

Collins was a TD for 30 years and served in several government departments, including stints in the Department of Justice and Department of Foreign Affairs.

He retired from the Dáil in 1997 to concentrate on his career as an MEP, having been elected to the European Parliament in 1994. He remained an MEP until 2004.

Collins was already a significant political figure by the time he was elected to the Dáil in 1967, having led the Kevin Barry Cumann at UCD and been assistant general secretary of Fianna Fáil.

He was quickly promoted, first as parliamentary secretary – as junior ministers were then called – and soon afterwards to the cabinet as minister for posts and telegraphs in 1970.

He was twice appointed minister for justice, and twice minister for foreign affairs in governments led by Charles Haughey, but when Haughey was finally toppled in 1992, the new taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Albert Reynolds sacked Collins, ending his career as a front-rank domestic politician.

However, the irrepressible Collins forged a new career for himself in the European Parliament, where his rivalry with fellow Munster Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley became the stuff of party legend.

The Collins family is one of the great political dynasties – Gerry’s father James, a veteran of the War of Independence and the Civil War, had been a TD since 1948, when his son succeeded him after a byelection on his death.

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After Gerry retired from the Dáil, he was replaced by his brother Michael and when Michael retired in 2007, their nephew Niall was elected. He is a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture.

In a statement, Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he was “sorry to learn of the death of my good friend and former colleague, Gerard Collins”.

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“During his many decades of public service, Gerard Collins made an enormous contribution to Irish public life. He was a politician of great substance and ability, who was in public life for all the right reasons: to serve and improve his country,” he said.

“He was a highly effective minister and was one of a generation of Irish public representatives who served with great selflessness and who left an enormous footprint.

“He later served as vice-president of the European Parliament and had a significant influence on developing regional support policies critical for the development of Ireland and other member states.

“Gerard played a critically important role in Fianna Fáil, a contribution he continued to make after his retirement from politics.

“He served as the party’s honorary secretary for many years and provided great leadership and service to me as leader, and to the party, as we implemented reforms to our organisation.

“Gerard continued to serve on the party’s national executive up to his death. I greatly appreciated his friendship, wisdom and advice over the years.”