NASAL TONED, acerbic and confrontational in the Dail, Mr Michael Noonan is a formidable performer. Tipped as a successor to Dr Garret FitzGerald in the mid 1980s, the sharp witted, privately convivial, and intensely ambitious Minister for Health has fallen on rough times.
Mr Noonan has considerable political ability. Within 18 months of being elected to the Dail in 1981, he became Minister for Justice. And, in that role, he drove the telephone tapping revelations which convulsed Fianna Fail and eventually led to Mr Charles Haughey's resignation from government.
He plays hard, knows the location of the political jugular and is not afraid to use the knife.
His canny, wide awake aggression made the Minister an obvious target in the old Scrap Saturday series as "Mornin' Noon n' Night".
But his sense of timing is suspect. He supported Mr Peter Barry for leadership of the party when Mr Alan Dukes won the laurels in 1987; failed to stand against Mr John Bruton in 1990; and later, in open rebellion, took up "leadership positions" on the Fine Gael back benches in 1994.
As one of the most experienced Fine Gael Ministers, it came as a real shock to colleagues when he stumbled badly in his handling of the hepatitis C scandal. It wasn't trouble of his making. Confronted by the worst public health scandal in the history of the State, Mr Noonan concentrated on damage limitation to the Exchequer, to his Department and to the blood transfusion service.
Demands by the victims were responded to grudgingly, if at all, and the human dimension of the scandal was largely ignored. As women died and public outrage grew, the Government and the Minister made grudging concession after concession. It was a crisis driven bureaucratic reaction. Mr Noonan's failure lay in placing the interests of the State above the rights of its citizens. And the opposition parties waxed indignant in an election year.
It was a notable political failure which still haunts the Government. But it doesn't represent the full picture of Mr Noonan's tenure at the Department of Health. When the Limerick East TD accepted that "poisoned chalice" from Mr Bruton in December 1994, he knew life wasn't going to be easy.
HIS first task was to pass legislation providing for abortion travel and information, in line with the referendums of 1992.
Mr Noonan performed brilliantly and his status grew. The attempt by BUPA to circumvent the rules of "community rating" in a deregulated medical insurance market ended in confrontation. And the Minister won.
Demands by nurses for new conditions and pay scales were eventually defused through lots of money and a commission to examine the profession. A damaging strike was averted.
But the hepatitis C scandal has done serious damage to his long term aspirations to lead Fine Gael. What were once "the safest pair of hands" within the parry have repeatedly fumbled the ball.
Time, however, is the politician's great friend: it blurs public memory and provides space for manoeuvre. And few politicians are so capable of turning situations to their advantage. At 52, Mr Noonan has many miles left on the political clock.