Brian Lenihan

:Brian Lenihan was the name of two Irish politicians, father and son, who held government office in the Republic of Ireland. For the son, who is currently active in Irish politics, see Brian Lenihan, Jr.

Presidential candidate

In January 1990 Government Press Officer P.J. Mara let it be known to the Irish media that Brian Lenihan was considering seeking the Fianna Fáil nomination to become the party candidate for the Irish presidential election, which was due in November that year. Opposition parties and the media speculated that the unusually early hints were part of a plan to discourage other parties from running candidates, the belief being that the popular Lenihan, who was recovering from a life-threatening illness, would prove unbeatable and so get the office unopposed.6 However this idea was derailed when Irish Labour Party leader Dick Spring indicated also in January 1990 that not merely was Labour guaranteed to run a candidate for the presidency, he would run if no-one else was available. Ultimately in April 1990 Labour chose former Senator Mary Robinson as its candidate.

Related Topics:
January - 1990 - Irish Labour Party - Dick Spring - April - Mary Robinson

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Challenge of John Wilson

Lenihan was generally perceived as unbeatable for the presidency, though he did receive a late challenge for the nomination from cabinet colleague John Wilson, as fears grew among the party leadership that the party, in a minority government, would have great difficulty holding Lenihan's seat in a by-election, whereas Wilson had a 'safe seat' the party would have no difficulty in holding. In September 1990 Lenihan saw off the Wilson challenge and was formally nominated as his party's candidate. The main opposition party, Fine Gael, after a chaotic search chose new Fine Gael TD and former Social Democratic and Labour Party cabinet minister in Northern Ireland, Austin Currie, to be its candidate.

Related Topics:
John Wilson - Fine Gael - Social Democratic and Labour Party - Austin Currie

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Lenihan however had one serious flaw. Though regarded by those who knew him personally as an intellectual heavyweight he had masked his ability behind an image of a lightweight, semi-comic politician, the "clown prince" of Irish politics, in the words of longtime friend, journalist John Healy. During leadership heaves against Haughey in the 1980s Lenihan had regularly appeared on RTÉ television to insist that Fianna Fáil was not divided, even as ministers were resigning from cabinet, and when Haughey supporters physically assaulted an opponent of Haughey's, ex-minister Jim Gibbons, in the environs of Leinster House, the Republic's parliament building.

Related Topics:
RTÉ - Jim Gibbons - Leinster House

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That image was augmented by a disastrous Late Late Show TV special devoted to him and broadcast only weeks before the presidential campaign started, in which colleagues and friends of Lenihan projected an image of him as a political cute hoor, that is, someone who would do anything and pull any stunt that was required, including making any promises to the electorate without any intention of following them through. As a result, while his personal popularity was high, his perceived trustworthiness did not achieve the same heights.

Related Topics:
Late Late Show - Cute hoor

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The Lenihan tape

The issue of Lenihan's trustworthiness became the central issue of the second half of the presidential campaign, where a furore arose over his supposed involvement on Haughey's behalf in 1982 to pressurise then president, Patrick Hillery, a close friend of Lenihan's, into refusing then taoiseach Garret FitzGerald a parliamentary dissolution in January 1982. Had Hillery done so - which he didn't - FitzGerald would have had to resign, allowing Haughey to form a government. Allowing Haughey to form a government before calling a general election and giving him the freedom to choose the timing of the election would have protected Haughey from rumoured plans to depose him (one TD, Charlie McCreevy had already been expelled from the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party a short time earlier for criticising Haughey's leadership), as he would have been able to use his appointments powers to reward middle ground TDs who might otherwise have supported moves to topple him.7

Related Topics:
Patrick Hillery - Charlie McCreevy

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Lenihan, over the eight years since the incident, had never denied that he had been one of the people making phonecalls to Áras an Uachtaráin (the presidential palace) that night in January 1982. That he had made phone calls was mentioned in newspapers and in books by authors Stephen O'Byrnes and Raymond Smith and by many political journalists in newspaper articles, some of whom had Lenihan privately as their source. In September 1990 The Irish Times carried a series of articles on the presidency, one of whom mentioned in passing the role of Lenihan, Sylvester Barret and Charles Haughey in making the controversial phonecalls to Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish presidential residence, to pressurise the President.

Related Topics:
Áras an Uachtaráin - The Irish Times - Sylvester Barret

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In October 1990, in the midst of the presidential election, Lenihan changed his story and, in an interview in the Irish Press newspaper and on RTÉ's Questions and Answers political programme, insisted that he had played "no hand, act or part" in efforts to pressurise President Hillery. All his previous confirmations had been in off the record briefings to journalists who could not reveal he was the source of their stories. However on 17 May 1990 Lenihan had confirmed his participation in one on the record interview with a post-graduate student and journalist, Jim Duffy, who was researching the presidency of Ireland for a thesis and for a series of newspaper articles in The Irish Times. In the aftermath of Lenihan's TV denial, The Irish Times, which was aware that Lenihan himself was Duffy's source for the original article claim, with Duffy's agreement published a newspaper story confirming that contrary to Lenihan's TV claim, he had made the controversial phone calls to the Áras in an attempt to pressurise President Hillery. When Lenihan's campaign manager, Bertie Ahern, on radio inexplicably named Duffy as someone who had interviewed Lenihan back in May, a political storm erupted in which the journalist was put under siege by the media and Fianna Fáil, leading to the reluctant decision after consulting with lawyers to release the proportion of the tape in which Lenihan talked about the events of January 1982.

Related Topics:
Irish Press - RTÉ - Questions and Answers - Off the record - 17 May - Jim Duffy - The Irish Times - Bertie Ahern

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'On mature recollection'

Lenihan's immediate reaction severely damaged his credibility. He appeared on a live news bulletin and looking to camera in a manner media commentators referred to as Nixonesque pleaded with the Irish people to believe him, arguing that "on mature recollection" he had not phoned President Hillery and his account to Duffy had been wrong. He then requested an audience with President Hillery to seek his confirmation that he made no phone calls. In the end when no audience was granted his campaign manager, Bertie Ahern, decided to withdraw the request though in a sign of the chaos envelloping the campaign, Lenihan, not knowing of this decision, told RTÉ journalist Charlie Bird that the request was still there until the journalist played back his interview with Ahern, after which Lenihan recorded a new soundbite explaining why the request had been withdrawn. (RTÉ showed the image of Lenihan listening to the RTÉ reporter's tape recorder but the fact that he was listening to Ahern's interview before re-recording his own was not explained to viewers and only became known subsequently.) It was further revealed that one of the callers (under parliamentary privilege, Haughey was named as the culprit though he denied it) had threatened when he returned to power to end the career of the army officer who took the calls and who on President Hillery's explicit instruction had refused to put any of them through to the President.8 It was stated that the President as Commander-in-Chief had expressly recorded details of the threat made against the army officer in the officer's file with an instruction that his career was not to be harmed in any way by the politician.

Related Topics:
Nixonesque - Audience - Bertie Ahern - Army

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The opposition put down a motion of no-confidence in the government. The minority party in government, the Progressive Democrats, told Haughey that unless Lenihan was either dismissed or an inquiry set up into the events of January 1982 it would resign from government, support the opposition motion and so force a general election on the issue. Though insisting that he would put no pressure on Brian Lenihan, "my friend of thirty years", in private, Haughey drew up a letter of resignation which he tried to get Lenihan to sign. Lenihan refused, and so Haughey formally instructed President Hillery to dismiss Lenihan from the cabinet, as Tánaiste and as Minister for Defence, which Hillery, as was required constitutionally, duly did. Many in Fianna Fáil were disgusted with what they saw as Haughey's betrayal of his old friend.

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Padraig Flynn's attack on Mary Robinson

Lenihan's dismissal led to an immediate collapse in popularity (from the mid 40% to 31% almost overnight) but then rallied. However a subsequent personal attack by former cabinet colleague, Padraig Flynn on Mary Robinson, in which he accused her of showing a "new found interest" in her family, backfired and destroyed Lenihan's campaign. Progressive Democrats president Michael McDowell verbally savaged Flynn on the radio show where the attack was made. Women voters, incensed at Flynn's attack, rallied to Robinson and abandoned the Lenihan campaign in droves. While Lenihan did win more votes in the first count, most of the votes that went to Austin Currie (who came in third with 17%) transferred against Lenihan, going to Robinson. As a result, Mary Robinson, not the odds-on favourite at the start of the campaign, became the 7th President of Ireland. Lenihan was the first Fianna Fáil candidate (and to date the only one) to lose an Irish presidential election.

Related Topics:
Padraig Flynn - Michael McDowell - President of Ireland

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