I've just been reading the new biography of Paddy Hillery, a very good read. One thing intrigued me. Most people remember the controversy from 1990 over whether Brian Lenihan rang the President back in 1982 to try to influence him to refuse a Dáil dissolution to Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. Brian said he had not, then was revealed in an interview with a student to have said he had, then said again publicly that he had not, saying on "mature recollection" his claim that he did to the student was wrong. He insisted to his dying day that he never ever rang the President in 1982.
Unfortunately for Brian, it turns out according to Hillery's authorised biography that a log was kept of calls that night and one of the most persistent callers was one Brian Lenihan. So the man had lied to the people in 1990 and kept up the lie until his death.
As the late Conor Cruise O'Brien, might say, it is all rather GUBU. So much for Brian's claims on television, in his book, etc. It seems like they were all one lie and what he said in the interview with the student back in 1990 about having called the president was the truth after all. An interesting snippet from a very interesting book.
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