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.

His successor, Patrick Hillery, was also involved in a controversy in 1982, when then Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald requested a dissolution of the Dáil Éireann.

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 ' Yes ' vote was urged by a massive campaign by the main parties and by civil society and the social partners, including campaigning through canvassing and all forms of media by respected pro-European figures like then EP president Pat Cox, former Czech president Václav Havel, former President of Ireland Patrick Hillery and former Taoiseach ( prime minister ) Dr. Garret Fitzgerald.

Brooks was named after a local planter, Hillery Brooks, who gave a lot to the construction of the railroad and a much needed depot.

He was succeeded by Patrick Hillery.

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

Patrick John Hillery, more popularly known as Paddy Hillery, was born in Spanish Point, Miltown Malbay, County Clare in 1923.

The son of Michael Joseph Hillery, a local doctor, and Ellen McMahon, a district nurse, he was educated locally at Miltown Malbay national school before later attending Rockwell College.

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

Key among this new breed of politician was Hillery who became Minister for Education in 1959, succeeding Jack Lynch in that post.

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

While Donogh O ' Malley has received much of the credit for introducing free education it was in fact Hillery who laid much of the groundwork before this landmark announcement.

Many historians have suggested that Hillery was Lemass's first choice to succeed him, however others have said that the Lemass pecking order went as follows: Jack Lynch, Hillery and George Colley.

In spite of this Hillery was not interested in the top job in government and, in the end, Lynch succeeded Lemass after a leadership contest with Colley.

Following Ireland's successful entry into Europe Hillery was rewarded by becoming the first Irishman to serve on the European Commission.

It occurred in September 1979, when the international press corps, travelling to Ireland for the visit of Pope John Paul II, told their Irish colleagues that Europe was " awash " with rumours that Hillery had a mistress living with him in Áras an Uachtaráin ( the presidential residence ), that he and his wife were divorcing and he was resigning the presidency.

Once the Pope had left, Hillery told a shocked nation that there was no mistress, no divorce and no resignation.

Hillery however defended his action by saying that it was important to kill off the story for the good of the presidency, rather than allow the rumour to circulate and be accepted as " fact " in the absence of a denial.

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.

The Irish government refused to attend royal functions as a result ; for example, Patrick Hillery declined on Government advice to attend the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, to which he had been invited by Queen Elizabeth, just as Seán T. O ' Kelly had declined on government advice to attend the 1953 Coronation Garden Party at the British Embassy in Dublin.

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 who operated it for a few years and then sold it in 1911 to a company that had been organized by Ferdinand Nordman, Jr. Nordman constructed a " jelly house " and enlarged the fruit business, selling fruit preserves via mail order to customers across the country, including New York Governor, Nelson Rockefeller.

In 1965 Hillery succeeded Lynch again by taking over as Minister for Industry and Commerce.

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 .’

Though once voted the world's sexiest head of state by readers of the German Der Spiegel magazine, few expected Hillery to become embroiled in a sex scandal as president.

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.

They were opposed by those described as the " doves " of the cabinet ; Tánaiste Erskine Childers, George Colley and Patrick Hillery.

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.

In 1983, five years after her husband's death, she was appointed to the Council of State by his successor as President, Patrick Hillery.

The Eastern group was the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, a denomination formed on 13 April 1897 through the merger of two older bodies: The Central Evangelical Holiness Association ( organised 13 – 14 March 1890 ) and led by Fred A. Hillery and C. Howard Davis ; and three churches organised by William Howard Hoople since January 1894, and formed into the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America.

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.

Lemass appointed several young and intelligent men to the post of Minister for Education, including Patrick Hillery and George Colley.

None of the candidates that were being offered to the party seemed particularly appealing and Lemass ' made one last attempt to coax either Hillery or Lynch to join the race as a compromise candidate.

Hillery remained adamant that he did not want the leadership and eventually Lynch allowed his name to go forward.

Anglo-Irish relations hit one of their lowest ebbs, with the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrick Hillery, going specially to the United Nations in New York to demand UN involvement in the Northern Ireland " Troubles ".

The President of Ireland, Patrick Hillery, and the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, attended a memorial service for Mountbatten in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin on 5 September 1979.

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.

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 ').

Prominent former TDs for Clare include Éamon de Valera who went on to become Taoiseach and President, former president Patrick Hillery and former Cabinet Minister Brendan Daly.

Hillery ’ s medical career in the 1950s saw him serve as a member of the National Health Council and as Medical Officer for the Miltown Malbay Dispensary District.

As Minister for Education, Hillery laid the groundwork for successive ministers to advance the reforms and initiatives he had begun.

Hillery only remained in this position for just over a year, becoming the country's first Minister for Labour in 1966, as industrial disputes began to take their toll.

This new department had been a dream of Lemass's for several years and Hillery had the honour of being the first incumbent.

Hillery retained his post as Minister for Labour following Lynch's reshuffle of the Cabinet, serving until 1969.

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.

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