In October 1990, Lenihan changed his story, claiming ( even though he had said the opposite for eight years ) that he had played " no hand, act or part " in pressurising President Hillery that night.

Some journalists had been told by Lenihan previously of his role in pressurising Hillery, but had been told it in an ' off the record ' conversation and so could not reveal it ( though one did hint it in an unsigned editorial in the Irish Independent during the crisis following the programme ).

Seeking to deny that he had ever been part of unsuccessful efforts to force President Hillery to refuse a parliamentary dissolution in a way that would help Lenihan's party get back into power ( claims he himself had made in an on-the-record taped interview recorded some months earlier ), Lenihan tried to stare into the camera and told viewers that " on mature recollection " his earlier version was wrong and that he had made no phone calls to the presidential residence to put pressure on the President.

Hillery was bombarded with phone calls from opposition members urging him to refuse the request, an action that Hillery saw as highly inappropriate interference with the President's constitutional role and resisted the political pressure.

A former Fianna Fáil cabinet minister and a political ally of Lynch, Patrick Hillery, was eventually nominated ( without election ) as Ó Dálaigh's successor and sixth President of Ireland.

In the Irish presidential election of 1983 outgoing President Patrick Hillery agreed under enormous political pressure to seek a second term.

Subsequently, it was reported in books by authors Stephen O ' Byrnes and Raymond Smith, and by many political journalists in newspaper articles ( some of whom had Lenihan as their source ) that Lenihan had been one of the people who had made phone calls to Áras an Uachtaráin, the President's official residence, on the night in question, in order to persuade or pressurise Hillery to refuse a dissolution.

Patrick Hillery later served in a number of political roles, including Foreign Minister and European Commissioner.

When a furious President Ó Dálaigh resigned, a deeply reluctant Hillery agreed to become the Fianna Fáil candidate for the presidency.

As Minister for Education, Hillery was responsible for much innovative thinking in a department which would become very important under Lemass's leadership ..

In 2002, state papers released by the British Public Record Office under the ' Thirty Year Rule ' and published in the Irish media, revealed how Hillery was viewed.

Younger men such as Brian Lenihan, Charles Haughey, Patrick Hillery and Michael Hilliard were all given their first Cabinet portfolios by Lemass, and ministers who joined under de Valera, such as Jack Lynch, Neil Blaney and Kevin Boland were promoted by the new Taoiseach.

It emerged during the campaign that what Lenihan had told friends and insiders in private flatly contradicted his public statements on a controversial effort in 1982 by the then opposition Fianna Fáil to pressure President Hillery into refusing a parliamentary dissolution to then Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald ; Hillery had resolutely rejected the pressure.

Hillery regarded such pressure as gross misconduct, and ordered one of his aides de camp, Captain Anthony Barber, not to pass on any telephone calls from opposition figures.

The revelations, and the discovery that Hillery had stood up to pressure from former cabinet colleagues, including his close friend Brian Lenihan, back in 1982 increased Hillery's standing substantially.

In the interview Lenihan confirmed what he had previously confirmed to other writers over eight years, that on 27 January 1982 he, along with party leader Charles Haughey and a colleague, Sylvester Barrett, had repeatedly phoned Áras an Uachtaráin, the residence of the President of Ireland, to try to put pressure on the President, Patrick Hillery, to refuse a dissolution of parliament to the Taoiseach ( prime minister ), Dr Garret FitzGerald.

The most notable instance of this was in January 1982, when Patrick Hillery instructed an aide, Captain Anthony Barber, to ensure that no telephone calls from the opposition were to be passed on to him.

Letters of Credence from Queen Elizabeth, on the British government's advice, appointing United Kingdom ambassadors to Ireland were not addressed to the ' President of Ireland ' but to the President personally ( for example: ' President Hillery ').

Patrick John Hillery (; 2 May 1923 – 12 April 2008 ) was an Irish politician and the sixth President of Ireland from 1976 until 1990.

Hillery retired from public life.

Lynch, and another favourite of Lemass's, Patrick Hillery, ruled themselves out of the leadership election from the very beginning, however, other candidates such as Charles Haughey, George Colley and Neil Blaney threw their hats into the ring immediately.

He first achieved prominence in 1990 when the contents of his on-the-record interview with then Tánaiste Brian Lenihan, in which Lenihan admitted making calls to the residence of the Irish president seeking to speak to President Hillery to urge him to refuse a Dáil dissolution in controversial circumstances ( something he had previously denied ), led to Lenihan's dismissal from government, his defeat in that year's Irish presidential election and the unexpected election of the left wing liberal Mary Robinson as President of Ireland.

The former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, was usually referred to as President Mary McAleese, not President McAleese, as had been the form used for the first six presidents, from President Hyde to President Hillery.

Viewing his defeat as a loss of support FitzGerald headed to Áras an Uachtaráin to request an immediate Dáil dissolution from the President, Patrick Hillery.

Lenihan refused to sign, and Haughey formally advised President Hillery to dismiss Lenihan from the government-which Hillery, as was required constitutionally, duly did, despite grave personal concerns.

Mary Beatrice ( Maeve ) Hillery ( née Finnegan ) is a retired Irish doctor who is the widow of Patrick Hillery, President of Ireland from 1976 – 90.

* 29 December — The Minister for Labour, Patrick Hillery, announced details of a new redundancy payments scheme which took effect from New Year's Day.

John Hillery Osteen ( August 21, 1921-January 23, 1999 ) was the founder and first pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, from its beginnings in 1959 until his death in 1999.

The party traditionally used the nomination as a reward for its most senior and prominent members, such as party founder and longtime Taoiseach Éamon de Valera and European Commissioner Patrick Hillery.

To this end a series of phone calls ( some published reports claim seven, others eight ) was made by senior opposition figures urging Hillery to refuse FitzGerald a dissolution, so allowing Haughey to form a government.

( Nevertheless three opposition figures, including Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey, demanded to be put through to Hillery, with Haughey threatening to end Barber's career if the calls weren't put through.

The election resulted in a return to power for Fianna Fáil and Hillery was successful on his first attempt to get elected.

Following yet another victory for Fianna Fáil at the 1969 general election, Hillery became Minister for External Affairs ( renamed Foreign Affairs in 1972 ), one of the most prestigious of cabinet posts.

Although considered a mild-mannered politician, Hillery showed his mettle at the 1971 Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis when Kevin Boland, an opponent of Lynch ’ s Northern policy, stormed a nearby podium and launched a very public and vocal attack on the Fianna Fáil leadership.

While some of his supporters started chanting ‘ We want Boland ’, Hillery, who by this stage had grabbed the nearest microphone, started shouting down the Boland faction with the immortal line ‘ Ye can have Boland but ye can ’ t have Fianna Fáil .’

: Dr. Hillery is regarded as a powerhouse of ideas, one of the few members of Fianna Fáil who has new policies and is eager to implement them.

Policy in this field is determined primarily between him and the Taoiseach ; and it is likely that the Fianna Fáil new line owes much to Dr. Hillery.

Fianna Fáil leader Jack Lynch proposed as the party's presidential election candidate Patrick Hillery, retiring European Commissioner for Social Affairs and former Minister for External Affairs.

" At this point an enraged Patrick Hillery grabbed his microphone and famously replied, " If you want a fight you can have it ... You can have Boland, but you can't have Fianna Fáil.

If Hillery had refused a dissolution, Charles Haughey could have formed an alternative government and strengthened his own embattled position as leader of Fianna Fáil.

The chairman is Brian Hillery, former Fianna Fáil politician and now a governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.

* 2 May-Patrick Hillery, former Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister, European Commissioner and sixth President of Ireland.