FOREIGN OFFICE PROFILES:THE BRITISH foreign office kept a biographical profile of all the main figures in Irish public life, from politicians, to businessmen, academics and journalists. The profiles, brimming with anecdotes and speculative character judgments, described their career to date, their future prospects and their attitude to the British government.
The late Conor Cruise O'Brien was described as a "brilliant polemicist", who enjoyed "considerable popularity" within the Labour Party, despite his renegade style.
The British believed that O'Brien, as his party's spokesman on the North, "took a carefully reasoned debunking line which earned him many enemies in the Republic and strained Labour's relationship with the SDLP".
His "two nations" approach to the question of partition, which stressed the "separate Protestant ethos of the North", was regarded as "the antithesis of traditional Republicanism".
O'Brien was "widely admired as an outstanding writer, critic and speaker", but his stance on Northern Ireland, plus his "intellectualism and gift for ridicule" had made him "one of the most unpopular figures in the country".
A "typical performance" was his claim at a conference in Oxford in September 1977 when he said there was "scarcely a majority" in the whole of Ireland in favour of unity. It was also suggested that, "in a country of heavy drinkers, he is outstanding and this might be his undoing".
Former taoiseach Liam Cosgrave was described as "unflappable, very much his own man and firmly opposed to terrorism". He had little personal interest in the North but did, when in office, "show a new realism and a greater degree of co-operation in security matters". He also possessed a "wry humour" but was "not very communicative" unless he was "among horsey people".
Garret FitzGerald was deemed "one of the best-informed, most intelligent and articulate members of the Dáil". He was criticised for sometimes being "too ready to take the part of Northern Catholics" but had also taken pains to "cultivate contacts with all shades of opinion in the North" and was "free of the normal anti-British hang-ups".
Senator Patrick Cooney, a former Fine Gael minister, was also held in high esteem by the British embassy. He was described as "approachable and genial with a good sense of humour" but "widely loathed" in Ireland for his opposition to Articles 2 and 3 and his responsibility for steering controversial anti-terrorist legislation through the Dáil".
The same could not be said for Douglas Gageby, editor of The Irish Times, who was criticised for having "gone out of his way to identify himself with the Catholic/Republican tradition", despite having a Northern Protestant background. The foreign office complained that his editorials on the North are "often particularly silly and offensive, illustrating the complexes of the unionist turned republican".
Tony O'Reilly, owner of the Irish Independent, was described as having been "something of a boy wonder", playing rugby for Ireland and the British Lions, lecturing in psychology and now becoming a top executive in Heinz.
At Trinity College Dublin, Prof FSL Lyons was described as an "imaginative, efficient provost, fearing no man, nor suffering incompetence".
"Alert looking, of keen athletic build", he was "one of the few Protestants to hold a distinguished public position in the Republic".
Fianna Fáil's leading intellectual was identified as Prof Martin O'Donoghue, minister for economic planning and development. Senator Ken Whitaker, despite being "quiet and unassuming", was "Ireland's economic guru".
The taoiseach in office at the time, Jack Lynch, received one of the most favourable reviews. In his first spell as taoiseach in the 1960s, "he was initially liked for his lack of vices than for his virtues", with a reputation for honesty and "getting things done by affability and persuasion rather than by noisy argument".
Having returned to office in 1977, he was described as "easy and pleasant to meet and has always been friendly towards the embassy". Similarly, Dr Patrick Hillery, the president, was described as having "undoubted intellectual capacity and a strong will".
George Colley, minister for finance and linked to Fianna Fáil's adoption of "a more aggressive approach" to Britain, was identified as a potential successor to Lynch.
He and another potential rival for the Fianna Fáil leadership, Charles Haughey, were "said to loathe each other". For his own part, Haughey was described as a powerful figure with strong republican leanings. Despite a strong personal following, it was said that he was "not widely liked in the party and is something of an electoral liability in the country at large".
The entry on Haughey also referred to allegations that he "has been corrupt".
Without giving any evidence, it concluded that he had "sailed close to the wind". Through his business deals, "he has become associated with the nouveau riche of the Dublin business world". His "playboy reputation, now dulled by middle age, and his obvious political ambition, have brought him envy and unpopularity". Nonetheless, he was also regarded as a successful cabinet minister and "tough political manager".
Neil Terence Blaney, the Independent Fianna Fáil deputy was described as the "leading old-style Republican" who was "implacably anti-British" but "an articulate debater with a sense of humour".
In contrast to his republican pedigree, Ruairí Brugha was described as a "quiet, modest man, prominent in the movement for reconciliation between North and South".
Nonetheless, he was deemed "a lightweight physically and politically" who was unable to prevent his party "lurching to a more Republican stance when in opposition".
Meanwhile, despite his international reputation, Seán MacBride was "not held in high regard at home". As UN commissioner, his "starry-eyed" proposals "were something of an embarrassment for the Irish government" and he was said to have "an irritating lisp and a French accent".
Frank Cluskey, the Labour leader, was described as an "unimpressive speaker" but a "firm leader" with "a good sense of humour".
Of Senator Justin Keating, it was said that he was "charming and intelligent" but that his socialist credentials were "now regarded as something of a joke in view of his affluence".
His cousin, Paul Keating, the ambassador to London, was described as "short and stout" but his "often scruffy . . . exterior hides a bright and active mind".
At the extremes of the political spectrum, Séamus Twomey, former chief of staff of the IRA, was described as a "typical fanatic Republican". But his "rigid nationalism" was combined with a "puritanical Catholicism" and he was "said not to drink and has apparently never missed 8 o'clock Mass on Sunday".
Some of the profiles underestimated their subjects. John Bruton, the future taoiseach and EU ambassador to the Unites States, was deemed to be "pleasant and hard-working but not an earth-shaker".
Despite his frontbench experience as Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture, he "still gives the impression of being politically lightweight".
More accurately, Mary Robinson, future Irish president, was identified as a rising star, "attractive as well as intelligent and articulate".
Brian Lenihan, whom Robinson defeated in the election to the presidency, was also described as "very ambitious" and "charming" but with "little judgment or tact". He was regarded as "remarkable, in a country where fathers obtain parliamentary seats for their sons, in having obtained one for his father".
What the foreign office said
SEÁN MacBRIDE
Was "not held in high regard at home". As UN commissioner, his "starry-eyed" proposals "were something of an embarrassment for the Irish government" and he was said to have "an irritating lisp and a French accent".
CONOR CRUISE O'BRIEN
Was "widely admired as an outstanding writer, critic and speaker", but his stance on Northern Ireland, plus his "intellectualism and gift for ridicule", had made him "one of the most unpopular figures in the country".
GARRET FitzGERALD
"One of the best-informed, most intelligent and articulate members of the Dáil." He was criticised for sometimes being "too ready to take the part of Northern Catholics" but was "free of the normal anti-British hang-ups".
JACK LYNCH
As taoiseach in the 1960s, "he was initially liked for his lack of vices than for his virtues", with a reputation for honesty and "getting things done by affability and persuasion rather than by noisy argument".
DOUGLAS GAGEBY
Was criticised for going "out of his way to identify himself with the Catholic/Republican tradition". His editorials on the North were "often particularly silly and offensive, illustrating the complexes of the unionist turned republican".