Raphael Patrick Burke (born 30 September 1943) is an Irish former

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from June 1997 to October 1997,

Minister for Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from 1989 to 1992, Minister for Communications from 1987 to 1991, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1988 to 1989, Minister for Energy from 1987 to 1988, Minister for the Environment from March 1982 to December 1982 and 1980 to 1981 and Minister of State at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy from 1979 to 1980. He served as a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

(TD) from 1973 to 1997.

Early life

Burke was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. He was educated at O'Connell School, and he went on to study at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

, before becoming an auctioneer. Burke's political career commenced when he was elected to

Dublin County Council Dublin County Council () was a local authority for the administrative county of County Dublin in Ireland. History The county council was established on 1 April 1899 under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 for the administrative count ...

for

in 1967. He was chairman of the council from 1985 to 1987.

Career

Burke was elected to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

at the 1973 general election for the Dublin County North constituency, succeeding his father Patrick Burke, who had held the seat for 29 years. Ray Burke represented this constituency and its successor Dublin North until his resignation almost twenty-five years later. After Fianna Fáil's landslide victory at the 1977 general election, Burke was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Commerce. He supported George Colley in the Fianna Fáil leadership contest of 1979, but after Colley's opponent

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

won out, Haughey retained Burke in his government position. Burke was subsequently a staunch and vocal defender of Haughey during several internal heaves against the latter's leadership of the party. In October 1980, Burke was promoted to Minister for the Environment, a position he held until June 1981 and again in the short-lived Fianna Fáil government of 1982. After Fianna Fáil returned to power at the 1987 general election, Burke served as Minister for Energy, where he made controversial changes to the legislation governing oil and gas exploration. In 1988, he was appointed Minister for Industry, Commerce and Communications. Following the formation of the Fianna Fáil–

Progressive Democrats The Progressive Democrats (, literally "The Democratic Party"), commonly referred to as the PDs, were a conservative liberal political party in Ireland. The party's history spanned 24 years, from its formation in 1985 to its dissolution in 20 ...

coalition in 1989, he was appointed as

and Minister for Communications in the government of Charles Haughey. When

Albert Reynolds Albert Martin Reynolds (3 November 1932 – 21 August 2014) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1992 to 1994. He held various cabinet positions between 1979 and 1991, including Ministe ...

succeeded Haughey in 1992, he did not re-appoint Burke to the cabinet. Following the 1997 general election, Fianna Fáil was back in office, and Burke was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, by Taoiseach

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, and as Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008. A Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011, he served ...

Corruption allegations

Within months of his appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs, allegations resurfaced that Burke had received

IR£ The pound ( Irish: ) was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or £Ir for distinction.) The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin circulation until ...

80,000 from a

property developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

regarding the former

. Burke denied the allegations but resigned from the cabinet and the Dáil, on 7 October 1997, after just four months in office. This allegation led to the setting up of the Planning Tribunal chaired by Justice Feargus Flood. In an interim report of the Tribunal, Flood judged Burke to be "corrupt". After Burke's re-election in 1989, he had made it clear in interviews that he believed that

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

, the national broadcaster, was biased against him and Fianna Fáil in its election coverage, and several RTÉ employees reported that while off-air at RTÉ's election coverage, he remarked "I'm going to fucking screw RTÉ". After the election he was appointed Minister for Justice, while retaining the Communications brief. Burke was responsible for controversial legislation that severely limited RTÉ's ability to collect advertising revenue and allowed for the establishment of a series of local radio stations and one independent national radio station, Century Radio. RTÉ were ordered to provide a national transmission service for Century Radio at a price that RTÉ complained was far below the economic cost of providing such a service. For example, they were required by the service level agreement to have engineers on standby covering the entire country 24 hours a day, when the final payment for the entire transmission service was roughly equal to the salary for just one engineer. Nevertheless, Century Radio failed to gain a significant audience share and closed in 1991. An interim report of the Flood Tribunal found as fact that the backers of Century Radio had paid large bribes to Burke to secure favourable ministerial decisions. One of the local stations established was 98FM and in 2006 its owner, businessman

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for several years. His bus ...

won a record €750,000 damages from the Irish ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' which had claimed that O'Brien had paid a bribe of IR£30,000 to Burke to secure a licence for the station.

Prison time

In July 2004, Burke pleaded guilty to making false tax returns. The charges arose from his failure to declare for tax purposes the payments that he had received from the backers of Century Radio. On 24 January 2005, he was sentenced to six months in prison for these offences, making him one of the most senior Irish politicians to serve time in prison. He was released in June 2005, after four and a half months, earning a 25% remission of sentence because of good behaviour. He served his time in

Arbour Hill Prison Arbour Hill Prison () is a prison located in the Arbour Hill area near Heuston Station in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The prison is the national centre for male sex offenders. Adjacent to the prison are the Church of the Sacred Heart (Dubl ...

in Dublin.

Retirement

Burke has maintained a low profile since completing his prison sentence but attended the state funeral of Charles Haughey in June 2006, his political patron. Several former associates of Burke, from his days as a member of Dublin County Council, continue to be the subjects of tribunals of inquiry set up to investigate irregularities in the planning process in Dublin. Burke is entitled to two public service pensions, one as a former TD at the maximum rate for over 20 years' service, and another as a former Minister. His barrister at his 2005 sentencing hearing stated these were his only income. As well as general criticism that such pensions are overly generous, Burke's continued receipt of these pensions while in prison and after his condemnation in the Flood report attracted criticism. Their combined income value was €66,000 in 2003 and €103,838 in 2011.

References

External links