NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Professor Alan Ahearne is Head of Economics at NUI Galway. He is an adviser to the IMF and a member of the Commission of the Central Bank of Ireland. He served as a special adviser at the Department of Finance from March 2009 to March 2011. He previously worked as a Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC.
Jim Flaherty was a Canadian Member of Parliament from 2006 until his death in April 2014. He was a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly from 1995 to 2005. He had served as the Canadian Federal Minister for Finance; Deputy Premier of Ontario; Minister of Finance of Ontario; Attorney-General of Ontario with responsibility for Native Affairs and Minister of Labour of Ontario.
Paul Gallagher is a Senior Counsel. He is a Bencher of the King’s Inns and was formerly Vice Chairman of the Irish Bar Council. He was Attorney General of Ireland from 2007 to 2011. Paul is an Adjunct Professor of Law at University College Dublin, a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers.
Cathy Herbert worked with Brian Lenihan as his special adviser from January 2006 to March 2011.
Professor Patrick Honohan has been Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland since September 2009. He came to this position from Trinity College Dublin where he was an Economics Professor. He spent twelve years on the staff of the World Bank. In the 1980s, he was Economic Adviser to Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, and later spent several years at the ESRI.
Christine Lagarde is the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, taking up this position in 2011. She previously served in a number of ministerial positions in France. She joined the French Government in June 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade. After a brief period as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in June 2007 she became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister of a G-7 country.
Mary McAleese was President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She is a former Pro-Vice Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast and she was Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin from 1975 to 1987.
Ray Mac Sharry is a retired public representative. He was a member of Dáil Éireann from 1969 to 1988 and a member of the Euro- pean Parliament from 1984 to 1987. He has served as European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development; Minister for Finance and Public Services; Tánaiste; Minister for Finance; Minister for Agriculture and Minister of State at the Department of Finance and Public Service.
Dr Martin Mansergh was Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for the OPW from 2008 to 2011. He was a Fianna Fáil TD for Tipperary South from 2007 to 2011 and Senator from 2002 to 2007. He was a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, latterly vice-chairman, until 2008. As a special adviser to the Taoiseach, he was member of the Tax Strategy Group 1997 to 2002. He is the author of The Legacy of History for Making Peace in Ireland.
Rory Montgomery is Second Secretary General, Department of the Taoiseach, having previously been the Irish Permanent Representative to the EU and Ambassador to France. He is writing in a purely personal capacity as a long-standing friend of Brian Lenihan.
John Mullen is from Tinahely, County Wicklow, and served as Deputy National Organiser of Fianna Fáil until 2004.
Dr Brian Murphy is a former speech writer to two Taoisigh. He recently completed a PhD in the School of History and Archives, University College Dublin.
Dr Harman Murtagh is a native of Athlone and a former senior lecturer at Athlone Institute of Technology, where he is currently a visiting fellow.
Marie Louise O’Donnell was educated at Nottingham University, NUI Maynooth, and UCD. She lectured in the School of Communications at DCU. She trained in radio with the BBC and presented programmes for Radio 4 for several years. She has lectured in Ireland, Europe and the USA. She presents a weekly colour piece on The Today with Sean O’Rourke Show. Marie Louise is a published writer. In 2011, she was appointed to Seanad Éireann by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
Feargal O’Rourke is Head of Tax Services in PwC Ireland and has been a partner in the firm since 1996. He was a member of the Government’s Commission on Taxation (2008–9). He is a frequent commentator in the media on tax policy matters.
Mary O’Rourke is a best-selling author. She was a member of Dáil Éireann from 1982 to 2002 and 2007 to 2011. She was Leader of Seanad Éireann from 2002 to 2007. She has served as Minister for Public Enterprise; Minister for Health; Minister for Education; Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment and Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Commerce. She is a former Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil.
Eamon Ryan is the leader of the Green Party. He was a member of Dáil Éireann from 2002 to 2011. He served as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from 2007 to 2011.
John Trethowan is a career banker with 42 years of experience. He is a past President of the Institute of Banking in Ireland, and is currently head of the Credit Review Office which allows SMEs to appeal declined lending decisions up to €3 billion. John is also an experienced company director, and is currently chairman of the board of two large business organisations in Northern Ireland.
Jillian Van Turnhout is an Independent Senator nominated by Taoiseach Enda Kenny. She knew the late Brian Lenihan through her work as Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance from 2005 to 2011.
Noel Whelan is a barrister, Irish Times columnist and author of a number of books on politics and elections.
INTRODUCTION
NOEL WHELAN
FEW PERIODS IN IRISH history are likely to be as extensively excavated by future historians as that from 2008 to 2011.The financial and banking collapse, the acute economic and social crisis and the potentially seismic political shifts that Ireland experienced in those four years have already attracted volumes of analysis. Much of that analysis is framed in the context of political charge and counter-charge and almost all of it is shaped by intense and justified public anger.
It is unavoidable that this book, focusing as it does on the life and work of one of the central, if not the central, political figures of those years, will feed into the early drafts of the history of this turbulent period. While that is inevitable, that is not the purpose of this book.
This collection of essays gathers the observations of some of those most proximate to Brian Lenihan during these crucial years. It will be obvious to the reader that all of the contributors had strong affection for Brian and many of them are, therefore, defensive of his memory. Some, however, are simultaneously (or alternatively) defensive of their own actions. In some places, the contributors are critical of what Brian and his government colleagues did or, at least, are critical of how it was done. As well as covering their dealings with Brian Lenihan, some of the contributors have given their broader recollections and reflections on key events, some of them for the first time. Each contribution is shaped by the angle from which each writer viewed events at the time and by adjustments in their perspective, which may have occurred since. Like everyone writing about
