“Others say it in black and white, Quinn says it in colour,” said Olivia O’Leary at the launch of ‘Straight Left A Journey in Politics’. She was referring to the days when she would be trying to get information from politicians on different issues and Quinn would always give her that bit extra. ‘Straight Left’ gives us a great deal extra and an insight not just into labour politics over the past fifty years but into the man himself.

Growing up with five brothers and one sister, conversations in the Quinn household in Sydney Parade were noisy and boisterous. Everyone had their own opinion on things and discussion on current affairs was always encouraged. When one of the family was talking, no matter how outlandish or off the wall the ideas expressed were, Malachi Quinn, Ruairi’s father, would always say, “Let him Finish”.

Malachi Quinn was a staunch Catholic and a supporter of Fianna Fáil and it is indicative of what a free thinker and courageous young man his son was that he turned his back on both of those institutions.

In a poignant passage, Quinn tells of explaining to his mother that he was no longer going to Mass and that he would be in the Merrion Inn reading the Sunday papers when he was supposed to be in church. He felt at that time that it was not going to do his father any good to know about this and he didn’t want to influence his younger brothers.

Many of the books that Quinn mentions as having influence on him growing up were books that would have inspired me as a young woman. Such books as John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’, ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist’ by Robert Tressell, ‘The Rebel’ by Albert Camus and ‘Zorba the Greek’, the latter sparking an interest in Greece, which would lead to Quinn spending time there in pursuit of his architectural studies.

What makes a man want to become a politician? In Quinn’s case his involvement began in his school days and continued into his college years. Wherever he saw injustice or the need for change, he was at the forefront of making things happen.

Quinn’s involvement with the Labour Party began in 1965 when he helped Michael O’Leary in his campaign to win the Dublin North-Central seat. “Leaving the comfort of Sydney Parade, getting the bus across town to Parnell Square and canvassing through the tenements of Mountjoy Square and Gardiner Street in that derelict part of Dublin was a daily journey between two worlds within one city.” Quinn graphically describes the conditions in which people in that area were living at the time and the impact this made on his determination to bring about radical social change.

The book is not all about him, the history of the Labour Party is well documented, however Quinn is not shy about recounting his successes. When he was in office, whether it was in the Custom House or the Department of Finance, he made a difference to the general ergonomics and aesthetics of the place.
Among many such initiatives, he was involved in the opening of Merrion Square to the public, in the preservation of the Olympia Theatre when the proscenium arch had collapsed, he was behind the introduction of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and was one of the architects who imaginatively designed what are still called ‘the new houses’ or ‘legoland’.

One of his greatest achievements was the innovative Social Employment Scheme now called the Community Employment Programme. Quinn says that this political initiative is the one of which he is most proud. Established 20 years ago, Sandymount Community Services was one of the first of those projects and is responsible for the production of ‘NewsFour’.

It is well-known that Denise Rogers has played a great part in Quinn’s success. From the day he canvassed her house in Durham Road to the present day, she has been pivotal to his work. For a lot of that time she worked on a voluntary basis and after he persuaded her to leave her good job in UCD to work with him full-time he was very embarrassed that Denise was without a job when he did not retain his seat in 1981. It was Denise who casually suggested to the Labour Party secretariat, at a coffee break, that Mary Robinson was an ideal candidate for the Presidency and the rest, as they say, is history.

I will leave it to his political colleagues to judge the veracity of his commentary. As far as I am concerned, it has given me a glimpse into how the system works. Quinn said at the launch of his book that 60,000 words had been excised by his editor and one wonders what they contained. Maybe another book or maybe just the boring bits, in any case if you can’t find your name in the index, that’s the reason why!

Straight Left: A Journey in Politics by Ruairí Quinn published by Hodder Headline is out now in hardback, €24.99.

Pictured, at the book launch, Ruairi Quinn TD with Dick Spring and Olivia O’Leary.