This article is from page 8 of the 2011-06-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE bonds between Tony Killeen and Brian Lenihan ran deep – theirs was a special relationship honed by their status of being from Fianna Fáil’s 1990s generation of TDs, their connections with North Clare and their very private battles with cancer over the last couple of years.
These recollections of a friendship and relationship forged through their time spent together on the backbenches and in Cabinet, talking about North Clare and their own mortality came flooding back to Mr Killeen this week as he reflected on Mr Lenihan’s passing at the age of 51.
“The Clare connection gave us something in common in the early days,” said Mr Killeen. “The North Clare connection was the critical part, rather than the Clare part, and we would have been considered very close. Certainly over the last year and a half, since Brian was diagnosed, we would have had a lot in common.
“We talked a lot about it. I was dealing with illness for a year and a half before Brian. There was one enormous difference in that I had a substantial prospect of recovery and, when I was mulling over whether to run again, I talked to Brian more than most and was taken aback the way he talked about terminal cancer as opposed to an illness that had some hope of being dealt with.
“He was very clear that it would be grossly irresponsible for me to endanger health prospects and that he was in a different position because his cancer was terminal,” added the former Minister for Defence.
“Brian was a great people person,” continued Mr Killeen. “He did have a presence, a great personal presence and he had great time for people. He was genuinely interested in talking to ordinary people and hearing their views. People instinctively felt that. It was one of his qualities and one of his strengths,” Mr Killeen.
And Mr Killeen, who retired from politics ahead of the last election after serving as a TD for 19 years from 1992, paid tribute to Mr Lenihan for the tough decisions he took as Minister for Finance.
“He was very clear that there was a path out of the troubles the country was in and that path was politically disastrous. He said to me, ‘Tony, we have a responsibility and our responsibility is to do the right thing. You and I know what the right thing is and we know we’ll be hated for it’.
“He was very clear about that and he wasn’t interested in being popular. He didn’t have a need to be popular, but he was, because his personality transcended the difficult and unpopular decisions he had to make,” added Mr Killeen.