A schoolmaster you just wouldn't mess with

If, as newly elected leader of Fine Gael, Michael Noonan is caught in a tight political corner, an incident from his time as a Limerick schoolteacher may provide an insight as to how he will handle such a turn of events.

A boisterous end of term ritual at Crescent College Comprehensive in Doora Doyle, where Noonan taught geography in the 1970s, involved students giving chase to their teachers before pinning them down on the floor. One student who recalls tearing after Michael Noonan (the plan was to tie him up), remembers cornering him in a classroom at which point a wily Noonan leapt out of a window and ran off over the school's rugby fields.

The same student, who didn't want to be named, remembers a master that "you wouldn't mess with".

It was a case of Michael Noonan and the way he might look at you.

"It wasn't anything he would say exactly, but he had this stare and that would be enough," he said. He also remembered that he made no secret of his disdain for anyone who turned up for school less than well turned out. "He had this saying, `ye're one scruffy lot', " said the former pupil, who remembers at these times feeling sorry for those with uncombed hair and dirty clothes who came from the poorer areas of Limerick. "He was definitely more right than left in his attitude towards discipline," he added.

And in his attitude to politics, it turned out.

From a Fine Gael family in Foynes, Co Limerick, Noonan, who will be 58 in May, was regarded as a tough Minister for Justice when he was given that role by then Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald in the early 1980s. Tackling the phone tapping scandal and the prison officers' strike with equal fearlessness, he rapidly earned a reputation as a Minister you wouldn't mess with.

But he might have been better jumping out the nearest window when it came to tackling the hepatitis C debacle as minister for health between 1994 and 1997.

For all that, however, it was the late Dermot Morgan who was responsible for introducing Michael Noonan to the wider public and through the now legendary radio Scrap Saturday programme. Even the most politically uninterested could recognise the metaphorical patter and nasal Limerick brogue of Noonan's alter ego. Morgan's co-writer, Gerry Stembridge, remembers Morgan picking up on Noonan's "aggressive quality" which made him a great character to satirise. "I'll set the dogs on ya" was something of a catchphrase.

"Wherever there was an occasion you needed to give grief to another Scrap Saturday character you could wheel out Noonan. I think Fine Gael used him in the same way," he says. Morgan also seized upon Noonan's inner showman. Some of the very early sketches depicted the new Fine Gael leader as a DJ with the stage name Mornin' Noon 'n' Night. Even then he was not averse to using the airwaves to take control of the party from Bruton, whom he famously called "Johnny Baby".

"It was no particular prescience on our part, but there was always the tension of that unspoken leadership struggle and the sense that Noonan was quietly sneering at Bruton from the wings," says Stembridge.

There are those who maintain Noonan took on more characteristics of his Scrap Saturday caricature as the years went on. Indeed, he is known for his own mimicry skills and is said to perform an uncanny Jim Mitchell impression for the enjoyment of his drinking buddies in the Dail bar.

One commentator said that he can be pompous. "There is a joke going around that it is only in the last three years (since Fine Gael was out of government) that he began to salute his neighbours," he said. "He can get a notion of himself, can be a bit self-satisfied and aloof, but he is very sharp, very witty and good company."

Others say he can be moody and introspective but agree that "he is a great person to have a pint with". His is a Guinness, incidentally.

Those offering opinions on Noonan all agree that he is a joker, but one person who has observed him from the opposite side of the political fence said he is not too happy when the joke is on him. The former politico added while Noonan appears to be a master of the impromptu quip, "it has to be said that some of the best impromptu remarks are those most well rehearsed". Like others, he speculated that Noonan was "past it" and that the FG leadership should have skipped a generation. "Swapping Bruton for Noonan is not the brightest idea," he said.

Dr Garret FitzGerald, his former boss, describes him as an extremely intelligent and thoughtful politician. "He will approach the leadership in a thorough way . . . he is the sort of person who sees around corners and thinks his way through," he says. "He also has a great sense of humour which is important in politics for one's own personal survival".

Noonan studied English and economics in UCD and was elected to Limerick County Council in 1971, teaching at both primary and secondary level before being elected to the Dail in 1981. Fine Gael Senator Maurice Manning picked him out as one to watch at that time.

"I remember RTE's Brian Farrell asking me was there anyone in the new crowd who caught my eye and I said there was a guy from Limerick called Noonan, I think he could be leader some day," he recalls speculating. Manning says he was someone who exuded "incredible professionalism".

"He would sit in the chamber for hours studying the mechanics of the Dail, learning the basics," he said. Manning says his biggest strength is his ability to simplify issues in a way that people can understand. "It's the teacher in him," says Manning.

Noonan lives in the same housing estate in Limerick that he did when he was a teacher with his wife, Florence, and unusually for a leader of a major political party, has no residence in Dublin. His passion outside politics is sport, particularly rugby and hurling. He likes to read and is a regular at the Abbey on the nights he spends in the capital. He and Florence have five children, most of whom are grown up, with one teaching in the same school his father did.

Last year, the couple's teenage son suffered a life-threatening illness, from which he has since recovered. Friends say this traumatic episode has forced Noonan to reflect on what is really important in life. Such new-found perspective may be useful to this highly ambitious politician if he misses out on what is likely to be his last opportunity to become Taoiseach.