DAN McAULEY:DAN McAULEY was an essentially private man who occupied a very public place in Ireland for much of the 1970s and 1980s.
In those decades of industrial unrest, McAuley was the director general of the Federated Union of Employers (FUE), later the Federation of Irish Employers, now incorporated in the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec).
He moved through the political and industrial jungle, keeping as his compass his integrity and the economic well-being of his country which he always strived to serve.
Dan was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, on July 13th, 1933. He grew up in Northern Ireland during the war and later in England where he was at school at Prior Park College in Bath, Somerset. He was an honours graduate in economics and political science from Trinity College Dublin. In 1957 he was appointed industrial relations officer in the Federated Union of Employers. A year later, the government published the first programme for economic expansion, which kick-started the opening up of Ireland with a new focus on foreign direct investment. Just as McAuley was beginning his professional career, he was at the centre of the State’s move from an agrarian society to one with an open, industrial perspective.
From l960 to l970, McAuley was responsible for the development of FUE’s industrial relations service and was an adviser to the Petroleum Employers’ Association. He contributed to the shaping of that decade through his work on the National Industrial and Economic Council and the Government Commission on the Status of Women. He was the Irish employers’ representative to the International Labour Organisation and the International Organisation of Employers. In l970, he became deputy director general of the FUE with responsibility for Labour Court and arbitration proceedings. As part of this role he was central in preparing business for membership of the European Economic Community.
McAuley was due to accompany the 12 prominent Irish businessmen who lost their lives in a plane crash on their way from London to Brussels on June 18th, 1972. They were heading for talks with EEC officials following the passing of the referendum allowing the State to join the community. A last-minute change of plans meant he travelled to Brussels before the others and was informed of the crash while waiting for their arrival in Brussels.
In 1972 he was appointed director general of FUE. Through the 1960s, considerable new industrial pressures had emerged in the Republic, culminating in the nationwide maintenance craftsmen’s dispute of 1969.
The national agreements of 1970 to 1982 arose from the ashes of that dispute. McAuley led the employer side of those agreements in which the employers (including the State) comprised one side and trade unions formed the other.
Frustrated by the inadequacy of the adversarial model to deliver necessary change, employers opted out of the national wage agreements in 1982 and, through a number of years of local bargaining, explored new ways of giving employees a greater sense of ownership and involvement in their enterprises by communicating directly with them. In this period through the mid-1980s the Irish economy was stagnant and dominated by a cycle of high current spending, high taxation, high interest rates, high inflation, low investment, low productivity and high unemployment.
It was against the widespread recognition of this reality that, in 1987, the government, employers, unions, farmers and others came together to plan a new approach. McAuley led Irish business into this process. The following year, he stood down as director general of the organisation which he loved and of which he was immensely proud.
For some years he continued to assist it, particularly with its international responsibilities.
After retirement, he gave generously of his time and became a director of ICS Building Society, chairman of Gypsum Industries, and chairman of the Social Affairs Committee of Business Europe (formerly UNICE). He was a member of the RTÉ authority from 1985 to 1990.
He was chairman of the special working group on personal injury compensation which issued reports in 1997 and 2001. These led to the establishment of the injuries board in 2004 which has been so successful in delivering compensation to personal injuries victims at a fraction of the previous costs.
He was appointed chairman of the Labour Relations Commission from 1991. In 1996 the government appointed him to chair the group that would work out the details for the establishment of a board to run the prison, probation and welfare services.
Long before the term “good corporate governance” moved centre stage, McAuley was recognised as the epitome of honour. He was widely known, respected and highly regarded at home and abroad, by business, successive taoisigh and government ministers, senior civil servants and by trade union leaders. He was a determined man with great clarity of thought. McAuley was also a great listener and showed the utmost courtesy and compassion in all his dealings. He always respected those on the other side of the table: indeed, he was very fond of many of them.
It is testament to him that so many of his former staff valued his wisdom and friendship to the last difficult days of his illness. He was a discreet, generous and entertaining friend and cared about things. He followed his own conscience, smiling with a frown at the confusion that he sometimes felt passed for Irish public life. The country and his wide circle of friends will be much the poorer without him.
He is survived by his wife Chris, his daughter Karen and son Mark.
Daniel McAuley: born, July 13th, 1933; died October 9th, 2011