Lenihan reaction: The late Brian Lenihan, who was sacked as tánaiste in 1990 by Charles Haughey, held no grudges against the former taoiseach, according to Mr Lenihan's son Conor.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, who was travelling in Lesotho yesterday with President Mary McAleese, said his father remained friends with Mr Haughey, despite publicly clashing over Mr Lenihan's fraught presidential election bid.
"My father never had a grudge with regards to what happened to him around the presidential election in 1990. In fact, he used to meet with Mr Haughey regularly after that, and they had conversations and discussions of one kind or another."
Asked whether his father felt let down by the sacking, Mr Lenihan replied: "I think my father thought this was politics. It was rather fevered, high-octane politics, with controversy thrown in. So I don't think he harboured any grudges against Mr Haughey for that particular decision."
The Minister of State said there were controversies surrounding Mr Haughey but "the legacy is very strong". "I think history will be far kinder to Mr Haughey than the tribunals at Dublin Castle. I think in the long run people will see him as having laid the seeds for our current economic prosperity as a country, and that is a legacy that nobody can take from Mr Haughey."
On his father's relationship with the former taoiseach, Mr Lenihan said: "I think on balance you have to look at these things over the years. Both of [ these] men - my father, the late Brian Lenihan, and Mr Haughey - grew up politically together.
"They came into power in the '60s under the guidance of Seán Lemass. They were young men together at a very exciting time, and they remained over 30 years very active colleagues and friends, frequent visitors to each others' homes. They were always friends, even in the period when Mr Haughey was in a sense persona non grata in Fianna Fáil.
"After the arms trial my father was a frequent caller and visitor, and kept up contact with Mr Haughey, and that was rather unique at the time."