Lenihan was popular and widely seen as humorous and intelligent.

Currie later remarked that Lenihan was his personal friend, and that he felt personally sick at being asked to endorse somebody he did not like, for the sake of beating Lenihan.

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's role in the event in 1982, seemed to imply that he could be instructed by Haughey in his duties, and that in effect electing Lenihan was in effect empowering the controversial Haughey.

This plan, suggested by Brian Lenihan and Donogh O ' Malley, was dropped after opposition by Trinity College students.

Though publicly Taoiseach Charles Haughey insisted that it was entirely a matter for Lenihan, his " friend of thirty years " and that he was putting no pressure on him, in reality he gave Lenihan a letter of resignation to sign.

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.

The Presidential election was disappointing for Haughey with Brian Lenihan, the Tánaiste, who was nominated as the party's candidate, being defeated by Mary Robinson.

Lenihan was accused of calling and attempting to influence the President, who as Head of State is above politics.

It is suggested that Haughey was forced by O ' Malley to sack Lenihan in order to save the government, and stay on as Taoiseach.

* 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.

The tribunal identified one specific donation of £ 20, 000 for Lenihan that was surreptitiously appropriated by Haughey, who took steps to conceal this transaction.

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.

In October 1990, in the midst of the presidential election, FitzGerald was to be a guest, alongside Lenihan, on RTÉ1's Questions and Answers political debate programme.

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 aggressively challenged Lenihan, saying " I was in the Áras, Brian, and I know how many calls there were.

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.

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.

According to Pádraig Lenihan, ' This anniversary helped affirm communal solidarity and emphasize the need for unrelenting vigilance ; perceived that the masses of Irish Catholics surrounding them were and always would be, unregenerate and cruel enemies ' Images of the massacres involving Protestant deaths in 1641 are still represented on the banners of the Orange Order.

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.

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.

Lenihan became the only candidate from his party to date to lose the presidency, having begun the campaign as the apparent certain winner.

The failure to get the Fianna Fáil candidate, Brian Lenihan, elected as President of Ireland added to the pressure on Haughey's leadership.

Lenihan went on to become the first candidate from his party ever to lose an Irish presidential election, with the Irish Labour Party candidate, Mary Robinson, eventually winning the office.

Lenihan first entered politics in 1954 when he ran as a Fianna Fáil candidate in Longford-Westmeath in that year's general election.

However, in September 1990 Lenihan was formally nominated as his party's candidate.

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

* October 25-Presidential candidate Brian Lenihan denies that he tried to contact President Hillery to stop the dissolution of the Dáil in 1982.

* 17 November – Brian Lenihan, Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister, senator and presidential candidate ( died 1995 )

The seat was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Brian Lenihan, Jnr, son of the deceased TD.

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.

Conor Lenihan was a Minister of State, though he failed to get re-elected at the 2011 general election.

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 ).

When Lenihan refused, Haughey formally advised President Hillery to dismiss Lenihan as Tánaiste, Minister for Defence and member of the cabinet, which the President as constitutionally required duly did.

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.

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.

However according to historian Padraig Lenihan, " The Cromwellians did not proclaim ' To Hell or to Connacht '.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King, denounced the " outrage " in the House of Commons ( the lower house of the British parliament ), as did the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Lenihan in Dáil Éireann ( the lower house of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament ), while in Seanad Éireann Senator Maurice Manning spoke of people's " total revulsion ".

Lenihan was involved in some controversy on 18 May 2005, when off-microphone he told opposition TD Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party that he should " stick to the kebabs ", a reference to the Turkish workers who were making a legal challenge against their employer, GAMA.

Together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, Hackman has written three historical fiction novels: Wake of the Perdido Star ( 1999 ), a sea adventure of the 19th century, Justice for None ( 2004 ), a Depression-era tale of murder, and Escape from Andersonville ( 2008 ) about a prison escape during the Civil War.

Fianna Fáil chose Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Brian Lenihan.

The Moriarty tribunal found that, of the £ 270, 000 collected in donations for Brian Lenihan, no more than £ 70, 000 ended up being spent on Lenihan's medical care.

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.

Brian Patrick Lenihan ( 17 November 1930 – 1 November 1995 ) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, who served in a range of cabinet positions, most notably as Tánaiste ( deputy Prime Minister ), Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Justice.

Lenihan sat for many years as a Fianna Fáil representative in both houses of the Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann.

Brian Lenihan, Jnr served as Minister for Finance and Conor was Minister of State in the government of Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

A cabinet reshuffle in 1964 saw Lenihan join the cabinet of Seán Lemass as Minister for Justice.

In 1968 Lemass's successor Jack Lynch appointed Lenihan as Minister for Education.

Lenihan had hopes of further promotion within the cabinet, however, his appointment as Minister for Transport and Power was largely seen as a demotion.