The latest interview with Terry Keane, which details her 27-year relationship with the late Charles Haughey, was conducted three years ago but its publication was sanctioned by her in recent days, according to the newspaper group that published its first instalment yesterday.
Sources in Associated Newspapers, which is publishing a detailed account in two of its newspapers of Ms Keane's relationship with the former taoiseach, are adamant that publication of the interview followed consultations with Ms Keane.
Three months ago, Ms Keane appeared on RTÉ's Late Late Show and spoke of her deep regret at the revelations she made seven years earlier about her affair with Mr Haughey. "I regret many things in my life but that is my biggest regret," she said.
Ms Keane is currently ill in hospital but Associated Newspapers is adamant that she gave an interview three years ago to be published after Mr Haughey's death and that she gave the go-ahead for its publication in the past few days.
"We had contacts with Terry Keane in recent days and she was aware that we were going to publish the first instalment of the interview in Ireland on Sunday and the second in today's Irish Daily Mail," said Mail editor Paul Drury yesterday.
It is understood that Ms Keane was paid for the story and the accompanying photographs, but Mr Drury would not comment on reports that the figure was between €25,000 and €30,000.
Ms Keane is currently in hospital in Dublin. She had surgery after a fall in Croatia during a holiday and was flown back to Ireland 10 days ago for further treatment.
A family member contacted yesterday by The Irish Times declined to make any comment.
The interview with Ms Keane was conducted by a friend, the writer Liz Ryan.
In the course of the interview published in Ireland on Sunday yesterday, Ms Keane recounted the details of how she met Mr Haughey in the early 1970s and how their relationship developed.
"Charlie never thought he'd be taoiseach, he simply knew it. He had cast-iron faith in his ability to get that seal of office. It was a foregone conclusion," recalled Ms Keane.
She added that only once did she ever see him almost crack under pressure, on the night in October 1982 when Charlie McCreevy put down a motion of no confidence in him as leader of Fianna Fáil.
"Charlie was not the kind of man who could ever be described as a cornered rat - I always felt he looked more like a stag at bay - but that night was absolutely dreadful, the worst of his life.
"In the middle of it, my phone rang at some godawful hour and there he was, drained, devastated. He told me he simply couldn't go on. And then he asked me to elope with him. He wanted us to leave the country, go to France and make a life together.
"I said, 'Are you mad? Do you think for one moment I'd run away with a failure?'
"It was my intention to hit him hard and I succeeded. He was stunned, horrified, and goaded into fighting back. I don't flatter myself that I saved him but I certainly said the right thing at the right moment."
Ms Keane said gossip about their relationship never bothered her because she "had access to much more exciting gossip of my own because Charlie told me everything".
