By Business & Finance 
John Bruton was posthumously honoured with the Pádraig Ó hUiginn Financial Services Award at the FS Awards on 24th October 2024.
Author: Liana Handler
Former Taoiseach and Finance minister John Bruton was posthumously awarded the Pádraig Ó hUiginn Outstanding Contribution to Financial Services Award. During the FS Awards hosted in late October, his widow, Finola Bruton, received the award on his behalf.
“What connected all of the things that John was involved in was his very deep and careful reading of history,” she said. “Throughout his life, whether he was talking about Europe or whether he was talking about Northern Ireland, history mattered.”
The award was named after Pádraig Ó hUiginn, a senior civil servant and businessman. Over his 50-year career in the public sector, Ó hUiginn headed projects that shaped Dublin, including Temple Bar and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. He also served as the secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach. Later in life, he worked with the UN Economic Commission and the EC Council of Ministers in Brussels.
It is the second time that Business and Finance have awarded the accolade since the FS awards started in 2022. Winners include Michael Noonan, the former Minister for Finance between 2011 and 2017, and Catherine Day, the former Secretary General of the European Commission.
For the majority of his life, Bruton held public office. He was first elected in 1969 to Dáil Éireann, and he later became the Minister of Finance in 1981.
“To serve twice as Minister for Finance is quite simply too large to put into any remarks, but I’m doing it today, recognizing John, although he can’t be with us,” said Ian Hyland, the president and publisher of Business & Finance.
Later in his career, Bruton served as the Taoiseach as the youngest person ever to hold the position. There, he proposed changes in the relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom and hosted then-Prince Charles, the first official visit by the Royal Family since 1912.
Then, he served as an Irish Parliament Representative to the European Convention in 2001 and became the European Union Ambassador to the U.S. three years later.
“He was Europe’s ambassador for still very long, and he brought us in his combination of patriotism and this outward looking focus on the world,” Hyland said. “And he was exceptionally impactful.”
Despite the external pressures that come with holding office, Bruton balanced his more serious public persona with a more light-hearted tone behind the scenes.
“He did it with great fun,” said Jennifer Carroll TD, the former Minister of State at the Department of Finance, “He was enormously enthusiastic. He had an infectious laugh, and he brought to everything a genuine commitment and a sense of fun.”
Bruton died in 2024 at the age of 77. However, his legacy in politics and the financial sector in Ireland lives on, according to Carroll who said: “He gave every part of his personality, every part of his intelligence, every part of his personal commitment away to the community, to everybody else, to the idea of Ireland.”
Read more:
Winners announced at FS Awards 2024, in association with KPMG
