Former Fine Gael taoiseach Garret FitzGerald paid a visit to his political rival, Charles Haughey, last October, it has emerged.
Mr FitzGerald, who turns 80 later this month, visited Mr Haughey following reports about the latter's illness.
Speaking on the Political Party programme on TV3 yesterday evening, Mr FitzGerald said he instigated the visit, and he travelled to Mr Haughey's home, Abbeville, in Kinsealy, north Dublin.
He said he found his former rival "in better form than I had thought from what I'd heard. We had a lot to reminisce about outside politics. We didn't discuss politics very much."
The two men have known each other for 62 years, since they were students at University College Dublin. They became intense political rivals during the late 1970s and 80s when Mr FitzGerald was leader of Fine Gael and Mr Haughey led Fianna Fáil.
Mr FitzGerald referred to Mr Haughey's "flawed pedigree" during a Dáil speech in 1979 when the latter was nominated as taoiseach.
" I've know him for a long time, 62 years," Mr FitzGerald said yesterday. "I was unhappy when he became taoiseach. I felt he was a good minister but there were some disabilities about him becoming taoiseach ... In his own party he wasn't accepted by an important minority."
Mr FitzGerald also recalled that Mr Haughey asked him to join Fianna Fáil in the early 1960s. "He also asked me to analyse why Fianna Fáil hadn't done better in that election and I agreed to do it for £100. He said: 'No, no I thought you might like to help us.' I said: 'No, I'm a consultant and if you want to employ me, you employ me and pay ...' I heard no more about it."