THIS IS the tale of the scandal that never was. On the afternoon of October 3rd, 1979, I received a phone call from the Secretary to the president, Micheál Ó hOdhráin, inviting me to join the editors of the national newspapers for a meeting with the president, Dr Patrick Hillery, at Áras an Uachtaráin.
While waiting in the main reception room at the Áras with Tim Pat Coogan, Irish Press, Aidan Pender, Irish Independent, and myself, the head of news of RTÉ, Douglas Gageby, The Irish Times, informed us that he had made it a condition of his attendance that everything the president said would be ON the record and this condition had been accepted by the secretary.
None of us had been told why we had been summoned to the Áras but we were all aware of the persistent rumours that the president was thinking of resigning because of marital difficulties. At least one English newspaper was said to be about to publish a story that Dr Hillery was going to leave his wife to live with another woman, accompanied by photographs of the pair sunbathing on the deck of a yacht off the coast of the Isle of Man.
When the president came into the room he seemed ill-at-ease and unsure of himself. He sat down and immediately announced that he was not going to resign.
He added that he had already told his wife and children of his decision and would be contacting the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, the leader of the Opposition, Garret FitzGerald, and the leader of the Labour Party, Frank Cluskey.
He said he was aware of the rumours about his liaisons with another woman or women and the possibility that English newspapers might run a story about him.
The presidency had suffered a lot over the past few years and he was anxious to protect the office of the president of Ireland by giving the lie to the rumours. (Of his immediate predecessors Erskine Childers had died suddenly in office and Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh had resigned because of an intemperate and insulting public attack on him by the Fine Gael minister for defence, Paddy Donegan.)
Dr Hillery referred to two particular rumours. 1) He had had an affair with one of his secretaries who lived in Co Dublin. 2) He was in a liaison with a French woman who had worked for him during his time as commissioner in Brussels when he had several attractive young women on his staff. The former was at least 10 years older than him and the latter was a friend of the family who occasionally came to stay with them in Dublin. In any case it would be impossible to carry on an affair in a house like the Áras.
Asked if it was true that his wife was seeking a legal separation he replied: “If she is she hasn’t told me.” He said his wife and he led independent lives and had done so throughout their marriage. His wife continued to follow her career as a medical doctor and frequently travelled abroad. He had heard rumours that they did not eat, speak or sleep together but these were all untrue. It was inevitable that such rumours would circulate about people in public life.
After some discussion we suggested that a formal statement should be issued for publication dealing succinctly with three key elements – he was not going to resign, his family life was intact and he had no liaison with another woman. The president wondered if the statement should be issued by his own office or by the office of the taoiseach. We said if then taoiseach Jack Lynch issued the statement he could also brief the political correspondents with whom he had a good relationship.
Dr Hillery left the room to ring the taoiseach. On his return a few minutes later he said Mr Lynch had advised that the president should issue the statement and brief the correspondents.
He added that the taoiseach always dealt very correctly with the president; he stuck to the correct procedures and was even remote in their dealings.
“You wouldn’t think we had served in the same government together,” he added.
Later that evening the president called in the political correspondents and issued his statement that he was not going to resign.
Seán Duignan, the then political correspondent of RTÉ, hurried back to the studio to inform the nation on the main evening television bulletin of the scandal that never was – a scandal to which all but a few had been oblivious.
In a book just published, Patrick Hillery – The Authorised Biography, the author, John Walsh, claims that the late president thought Charles J Haughey orchestrated the rumours. At our briefing in the Áras, President Hillery told us he believed the rumours were being deliberately promoted. He would not be drawn on names but remarked: "I'm sure there are some people working out the succession stakes on the possibility of my resignation."
The conspiracy theorists were soon on the job. If Dr Hillery had resigned in 1979 Jack Lynch would have been under strong pressure to go to the Park, leaving the jobs of taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil open for succession. And among the contenders would have been one Charles J Haughey – a neat solution to a festering problem. But, not for the first time, Patrick Hillery kept Fianna Fáil together by swift and effective action.