Former Taoiseach to retire

ALBERT REYNOLDS, the former Taoiseach whose diplomacy forged the 1993 Downing Street Joint Declaration by Dublin and London which paved the way for the August 1994 IRA ceasefire, announced he is to retire from politics at the next election.

Mr Reynolds, 65, said he had "made his contribution" to politics Ireland and was now concentrating on his business interests abroad. His family owns a successful pet foods company.