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Fergus Finlay: Political junkie

Regarded as the best political strategist the Labour party has ever had and the brains behind Dick Spring's leadership, Fergus Finlay is finally bowing out. Fergal Keane wonders how he will he cope without the buzz of the political game.

Fergus Finlay is rounding off a career which has spanned nearly 25 years in politics. Fourteen years as political advisor to Dick Spring, then a few years in the relative backwater of public affairs lobbying, before finally returning to act as advisor to Pat Rabbitte, Finlay has seen many come and go, including on a couple of occasions, himself.

In June he takes over as chief executive of the children's charity, Barnardo's, probably never to return to political life. His decision to take the job was announced in March and came as a shock to the Labour Party. He agreed to remain on until the annual conference, which is seen as being crucial in the leadership of Pat Rabbitte, as he tries to bring the party with him in agreeing a political pact with Fine Gael before the next general election. A deal is by no means

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School days were good, recalls Fergus Finlay, apart from the awful time of the vocation

With the exception of a very unhappy six months when I was 14, my experience of school was good. I was educated by the Presentation Brothers - mostly in Bray, Co Wicklow, and, in my final Leaving Cert year, in Cork. I was a very religious youngster and became convinced that I had a vocation. In preparation for joining the Presentation Brothers, I persuaded my parents to send me to boarding school at Colaiste Mhuire in Douglas, Cork. My parents were as convinced that I didn't have a vocation as I was that I had.

At Colaiste Mhuire I saw the worst side of religious life. It was an unremittingly harsh regime - early risings, icy cold water, lots and lots of brutality. I can remember one occasion when I was given 20 lashes for talking in the dormitory at night. I had never experienced anything like it.

I couldn't wait to get home for Christmas and when I did so I begged and pleaded not to be sent back. My parents relented and I returned to `Pres' in Bray. I had a lot of friends at school but lea

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Fergus Finlay

Irish politician and writer

Fergus Finlay (born 1 June 1950)^[1] is the former Chief Executive of the charity Barnardos in Ireland, leaving the post in 2018. He was a senior member of the Irish Labour Party and is also a weekly columnist with the Irish Examiner and the author of a number of books.

Having worked in government press secretarial roles in the 1980s, Finlay served as an adviser to Dick Spring from 1983 to 1997. During this time he was involved in campaigns that led to the election of Mary Robinson as president, a large increase in the number of Labour TDs in 1992 and the dropping of the constitutional ban on divorce in 1996.

He resigned from Labour in 1997, becoming a director of Wilson Hartnell Public Relations, heading the company's public affairs unit. In 1997 he also started presenting the Network 2 show Later On 2 with Frank Dunlop former Press Secretary of Fianna Fáil. In April 2010 the Sunday Business Post said he is "one of the great backroom operators of Irish political history, a strategist, tactician, and media briefer