ASSESSMENT:PATRICK HILLERY was the quiet man of Irish politics but the courage he displayed in defence of constitutional principles over two decades had a profound influence on political life. He also made a great personal sacrifice by taking over the highest office in the land when asked to do so, though he had no desire to be president of Ireland.
The three key episodes in which he was involved were the aftermath of the Arms Crisis of 1970, including the dramatic Fianna Fáil Ardfheis of 1971; his role as Ireland's first European commissioner; and his courage as president in resisting pressure from Charles Haughey and his Fianna Fáil colleagues to directly intervene in politics in 1982.
Hillery was a prominent member of the government throughout the 1960s, but it was as minister for external affairs in the period 1969 to 1972 that he faced his first great test, with the outbreak of the Northern Troubles. That opened up a rift in Fianna Fáil that led to the Arms Crisis, the sacking of two of the most powerful cabinet ministers and the resignation of two others.
As minister for external affairs Hillery was out of the country for much of the wrangling that went on at cabinet. He was occupied in trying to get the British to accept the Irish government's legitimate interest in the affairs of the North and in appealing to the United Nations at key points in the crisis.
Hillery was a powerful figure in his own right and neither the moderate Lynch/Colley wing nor the militant Haughey/Blaney axis were sure which side he would come down on. He was in London for a meeting with the British government on the morning Haughey and Blaney were sacked from the cabinet . He rushed back to Dublin and stood by Jack Lynch. It was a critical factor in stabilising the political situation.
"It was a terrible time. You didn't know what you were going to hear next either. And these were friends," Hillery told this author in an interview for a book on Fianna Fáil during 2000.
He also recalled his intervention at the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis of 1971, which had such a decisive impact on the politics of the party and the country.
Television footage of the dramatic confrontation between Hillery and Kevin Boland, shown again over the weekend, conveys the atmosphere of that time.
"I sailed into this ardfheis and I met Gerry Collins. Then I saw Blaney's people, four deep, all waiting before the thing even started to get to the podium. So then there was no chance that anyone would say a word in favour of Jack Lynch. I went up and sat beside Jack. I was sitting with him trying to think how could you deal with this. The next thing Jack said 'get up and talk'. I said 'what?' He said 'you'll have to talk'.
"Paddy Smith was in the chair and he called on me to speak. I had nothing prepared. I think I started off by saying the first thing we have to deal with is this, because I felt that it was a violence to democracy. At some stage there was a crowd in front of me and I had the microphone and they were shouting 'We want Boland. We want Boland'.
"And I said 'You can have Boland but you can't have Fianna Fáil'. And that was the punchline."
Hillery recalled how he and Lynch had tried in the early stages of the Troubles to devise a coherent policy for Fianna Fáil that would articulate a peaceful approach to the North. That policy was eventually enunciated by Lynch in a speech in Tralee.
"Funny enough it was left to two people who weren't the inheritors of the mantle. Both Jack and I were outsiders. The two who didn't know anything about politics were the ones who talked about policy."
As minister for external affairs, Hillery's other big policy consideration was negotiating Ireland's entry into the EEC, as the European Union then was. One of the real concerns was that the violence in the North might impede entry, but increasing co-operation between Ireland and Britain allayed that fear.
As social affairs commissioner he presided over the development of EU social policy. One difficult political issue he had to confront was the reluctance of the Irish government to implement equal pay for women because of the cost to the exchequer. He adopted a tough line and refused to allow the Cosgrave government to get a derogation from the equal pay directive.
Towards the end of his term as commissioner Hillery was prevailed on to return to Ireland as president after the shock resignation of Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh. "I knew they would be looking around for someone and I went straight up to Jack and said 'keep me out of this will you' and he said 'I will, I promise'. It was more than that, I told him I had no political ambitions. Then someone started the story that I would take it and Jack got back on and I said 'No Jack, you promised'. At the end he came back on and said 'I really want you to go' and that was it. That is the way loyalty was then."
Hillery came back to Ireland and was inaugurated as president. His decision to take the post, which he held for the next 14 years, enabled the Fine Gael-led government and Fianna Fáil to avoid a presidential election.
However, he was catapulted into controversy three years later when rumours about his private life, at the time of Pope John Paul's visit to Ireland in 1979, were widely circulated.
The president called the country's political correspondents to Áras an Uachtaráin for a briefing and denied that he was involved in an extra-marital relationship.
It was a risky strategy but it killed the rumours.
Less than three years later he was involved in a very different kind of controversy when a Fine Gael-Labour government collapsed having suffered a Dáil defeat on the budget of 1982.
Charles Haughey, by then leader of Fianna Fáil, issued a statement calling on the president to refuse the request of the taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, to dissolve the Dáil to allow Fianna Fáil the opportunity to form a government.
This was followed up by phone calls to the Áras from senior figures in the party making the same point more forcibly.
Haughey was reported to have threatened an Army officer on duty for obeying Hillery's instructions and refusing to put him through to speak to the president. So concerned was the president at the threats to the officer's future that he had a note placed on his file that he had acted properly and under his instructions at all times.
Hillery carried out the duties of his office diligently and is fondly remembered by community groups up and down the country.
However, there is no disguising the fact that he was a reluctant president. The office did not suit a man of his shy temperament and the status of figurehead was frustrating for someone used to exercising political power at the highest level in Ireland and Europe.
His response when asked how he liked the role was oblique but poignant. "Children used to ask me was it nice to be president and you would have to say 'yes'. You know, you couldn't disappoint them."
