FOR a man who initially earned a reputation for avoiding the spotlight, Noel Smyth has turned up at the oddest of moments.
Like the time the Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, was mysteriously absent, allowing a barrage of speculation to build about the management of diocesan funds, trips to Bangkok, and sex abuse allegations against local clergy.
When Dr Comiskey reappeared to face the press early last year, after a five month stint in a US alcohol treatment centre, Mr Smyth was at his side. He was giving the bishop more than legal advice - he was helping out a friend.
The remarkable turn of events in the McCracken tribunal, with Mr Smyth announcing that he had written records of five meetings he had with Mr Charles Haughey, could also be seen as going above and beyond the call of duty.
But then Ben Dunne is not an ordinary client, and in any case, Mr Smyth, a deeply religious man, would feel the weight, more than many in his profession, of testimony sworn on a bible to be the whole truth.
Mr Smyth's relationship with Mr Dunne goes back many years. Dunnes Stores used his company as one of several solicitors, especially when dealing with complex property transactions.
But the relationship was truly cemented on the day a shame - faced Mr Dunne returned from Florida in 1992. The supermarket tycoon had been caught indulging in cocaine and call girls and faced criminal prosecution in the US.
Mr Smyth took control of the situation, organised a plea bargain so that the Florida District Attorney dropped the more serious charge of intent to supply narcotics, and, in a superb coup of damage limitation, helped to orchestrate a series of emotional apologies to the nation from Mr Dunne.
When the rest of Mr Dunne's family proved less forgiving than the public, Mr Smyth helped him in the battle for his share of the supermarket chain's assets, then in buying Dunloe, a property company quoted on the Dublin Stock Exchange. Mr Smyth himself controls a 25 per cent stake in Ewart, a Belfast based property company.
Later, when Mr Dunne wanted to get out of Dunloe, Mr Smyth personally took a majority share in - that firm too. Now reduced to 42 per cent, Mr Smyth's stock is still worth £11 million. The move, observers say, is part of the way Mr Smyth operates.
He is the sort of solicitor "to whom you went for advice only to come away with a business partner", a property developer, Mr Pat Doherty, said at one of the Telecom Eireann inquiries into the sale of the former Johnston Mooney and O'Brien site in Ballsbridge.
Acquaintances say Mr Smyth often forgoes his fees in exchange for a slice of whatever action he is working on.
As far back as 1987, he formed part of the team led by an accountant and financier, Mr Paschal Taggart, that bought the H Williams supermarket chain for £14 million. Mr Smyth controlled an estimated 13 per cent of Aviette, the company that within weeks of the deal sold on the shops, mainly to Quinnsworth, Dunnes and Musgraves, at a considerable profit.
During the Telecom inquiries in 1991, it emerged that Mr Smyth was to be brought into one of the deals if he could arrange a tax efficient finance package on behalf of Mr Dermot Desmond, then head of NCB stockbrokers.
His successful Dublin solicitors firm has many private clients. In the past, he has been associated with a large number of Ireland's top business figures, including Mr Desmond, Mr Taggart, property developer Mr Phil Monahan, and Mr Don Tidey, the chairman of Quinnsworth.
Yet, say acquaintances, he could not be further away from the Dublin social whirl. A teetotaller, Mr Smyth spends a lot of time with his family, and is a regular weekday communicant at Haddington Road Catholic church. The walls of his house - Lisieux Hall, after the French home of St Therese - are covered with religious and family pictures.
The son of a golf professional who moved occasionally from one club to another, Mr Smyth lived as a youngster in various towns around Ireland, including Adare, Tralee, Bray and Dublin. At UCD, contemporaries say, he steered clear of student politics and concentrated on his law studies.
He qualified as a solicitor in 1973, aged 20, and worked in a Dublin practice before moving for a short time to New York.
His first partnership was with Mr Michael Fitzsimons, a brother of Jim, the Fianna Fail MEP for Leinster.
He quickly built a reputation as a lawyer with a detailed knowledge of the property market and laws, and by 1981 had formed his own practice.
Those who have done business with Mr Smyth sac he has a direct and forceful style of negotiating, arguing tirelessly for his clients.
After the handshake, however, he resumes his usual, mild mannered demeanour; acquaintances stress that while he is a hard dealer, he sticks to an agreement once it is made.
For many years, he shunned publicity, refusing to be photographed or speak to the press.
In business, some presumed that such public reticence indicated that he would be a quiet, somewhat inactive, company chairman. This has turned out not to be the case. Dunloe board members say he has proved an active and very competent chairman.
Reporters who have followed his career say that he has become far more open; like many other business figures, he now returns telephone calls - when it suits him.
And this afternoon, many observers hope, his openness will reach new heights.