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.

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.

Lenihan tried in a subsequent live television interview on the Six-One News to insist that what he had said to Duffy was wrong, insisting that " on mature recollection " his October 1990 version was the correct one, and all that he had said previously over eight years was incorrect.

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 ).

She defeated Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan and Fine Gael's Austin Currie in the 1990 presidential election becoming, as an Independent candidate nominated by the Labour Party, the Workers ' Party and independent senators, the first elected president in the office's history not to have had the support of Fianna Fáil.

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.

Lenihan denied he had pressured the President but then a tape was produced of an ' on the record ' interview he had given to a postgraduate student the previous May in which he frankly discussed attempting to apply pressure.

Lenihan claimed that " on mature recollection " he hadn't pressured the President and had been confused in his interview with the student.

Three candidates had been nominated in the 1990 presidential election: the then Tánaiste, Brian Lenihan from Fianna Fáil ( widely viewed as the certain winner ), Austin Currie from Fine Gael and Mary Robinson from Labour.

In May 1990, in an on the record interview with Jim Duffy, a post-graduate student researching the Irish presidency, Lenihan had confirmed that he had been one of those phoning Hillery in January 1982.

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.

Their pressure backfired, particularly when his campaign manager, Bertie Ahern, named Duffy as the person to whom he had given the interview in a radio broadcast, forcing a besieged Duffy to reverse an earlier decision and release the relevant segment of his interview with Lenihan.

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.

Haughey angrily denied the charge, though Lenihan, in his subsequently published account of the affair, noted that Haughey had denied " insulting " the officer, whereas the allegation was that he had " threatened " him.

Three other cabinet ministers had also contemplated running-Brian Lenihan, Kevin Boland and Donogh O ' Malley.

He decided to raise the issue of the calls again on the programme, given that in the preceding week Lenihan changed his story of eight years and had now denied twice, first in a student debate, then in an Irish Press interview with Emily O ' Reilly, making any calls.

When challenged on the programme Lenihan maintained that his October 1990 version was correct, denying that he had played " any hand, act of part " in attempts to pressurise President Hillery.

FitzGerald had been in Áras an Uachtaráin on the night of the calls and had been told by the President's staff that Lenihan had persistently been making calls.

Aware that Lenihan had been one of Duffy's sources for the original article in September, with Duffy's permission the Irish Times ran a front page story stating that Lenihan had made the calls he was now denying.

Duffy was strongly attacked by the Taoiseach and members of the government under parliamentary privilege, with claims that his research was bogus and that he had been part of a secret plot to destroy Lenihan.

When he got there, he was informed that a series of telephone calls had been made by senior opposition figures ( and some independent TDs ), including Fianna Fáil leader ( and ex-Taoiseach ) Charles Haughey, Brian Lenihan and Sylvester Barrett demanding that the President, as he could constitutionally do where a Taoiseach had ' ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann ', refuse FitzGerald a parliamentary dissolution, forcing his resignation as Taoiseach and enabling the Dáil to nominate someone else for the post.

Initially, Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan had been favourite to win, however after a number of controversies arising from the brief Fianna Fáil administration of 1981 – 82, and Lenihan's dismissal as Minister for Defence mid-way through the campaign, the Labour Party's Mary Robinson emerged victorious.

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.

No audience was granted, and his campaign manager Bertie Ahern withdrew the request-though, in a sign of the chaos enveloping the campaign, Lenihan told 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.

After Hanafin and Lenihan had been eliminated from the contest and their surplus votes distributed, Martin emerged with 50 votes and was duly elected the eighth leader of Fianna Fáil.

In the wake of this controversy, May asked Lenihan not to launch the book " because I am so embarrassed that the Minister for Science has been so insulted " and " eviscerated " on a political website.

His son Brian Lenihan had been elected in the neighbouring constituency of Roscommon at the previous election in 1961.

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.

Other famous examples of catch all parties include the Republic of Ireland's Fianna Fáil, which has variously been categorised as socialist ( according to former deputy leader Brian Lenihan ) and neo-Thatcherite / neo-Reaganite, a description applied to the economic policies and politics of former Minister for Finance ( 1997 – 2004 ) Charles McCreevy.

* In May 1989 one of Haughey's lifelong friends Brian Lenihan, a former government minister, underwent a liver transplant which was partly paid for through fundraising by Haughey.

Mary O ' Rourke ( née Lenihan ; born 31 May 1937 ) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician.

She supported the attack on Cowen by her nephew, former Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, who said he was " disappointed " by Cowen's performance and he had to provide the leadership when the Taoiseach did not.

Conor Lenihan ( born 3 March 1963 ) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician and currently a Vice President of the Skolkovo Foundation.

Lenihan is the son of former Fianna Fáil Tánaiste Brian Lenihan, Snr.

His aunt, Mary O ' Rourke, is a former Fianna Fáil TD and Senator, while his brother, Brian Lenihan, Jnr was a TD and the Minister for Finance from 2008 to 2011.

* Donal Lenihan, former Ireland rugby union captain.

* Brian Lenihan, Snr, former Tánaiste

Speculation abounded that this was part of a plan to discourage other parties from running candidates in the belief that Lenihan would prove unbeatable and so get the office unopposed.

Lenihan was the first, and so far the only, Fianna Fáil candidate to lose an Irish presidential election.

Speaking at the publication of the NAMA legislation in September 2009, Mr. Lenihan said it would " strengthen and improve " the funding positions of the banks " so that they can lend to viable businesses and households ".

In 1990 as part of his postgraduate thesis for his Master of Arts in Political Science Duffy interviewed senior politicians, one of whom was the then Tánaiste, Brian Lenihan.

During a broadcast in 1990 the then Tánaiste and expected next President of Ireland, Brian Lenihan, badly damaged his chances of being elected.

Days after the Act was passed, an order was sought by minister Brian Lenihan, Jnr and approved allowing a transfer of over € 3, 700, 000, 000 into Allied Irish Bank, then an insolvent bank.

In early 1985 looking for a newer edge, they added Chuck Lenihan as a second guitarist, and ( then ) 16 year old Dan Richardson on drums.