©RIA €30.00

Forget the starry-eyed Bertie and his Drumcondra gang. He slipped through the tribunal net virtually unscathed, and can still be hired to smirk for the cameras, contemplating his still-bright future. Consider instead the Sean Lemass legacy, and examine the careers and decisions of the power players of the last mid-century, forefathers of the current crop of untouchables that comprise the Dail and Seanad.

Tom Garvin examined reams of newspaper archives to confirm Sean Lemass's importance and place in the national conscience, and has already been criticised for a somewhat rose-tinted view of the man. It was clear from his recent conversation at The Royal Irish Academy, with RTE journalist Cathal MacCoille, that the author must have been flooded with fond nostalgia remembering the anecdotes, and selecting the inclusions for the book he describes as an essay which he had to contain, as there is, obviously more that could be written.

The author clearly loved the man; as Lemass loved Eamon De Valera, his predecessor. It is fifty years since Lemass became Taoiseach, a post which he held until 1966. He preferred his earlier ministerial roles, and demonstrated authoritarian tendencies when he was Minister for Supplies. Lemass was 'not infallible', and as a pragmatist, was responding to the protectionism of wartime. Later, allied by the formidable T K Whitaker, they embraced the free market, laying the foundations for prosperity and EU membership.

The above is to say little about the subject. The large audience in the RIA Library were able to ask a myriad of questions about the man who put Ireland on the international map, appearing on the cover of Time Magazine (Vol 82 – No.2) with the banner:'Ireland. New Spirit in the Ould Sod'.

He embraced the Northern Question. He knew the identity of his brothers murderer, but never spoke about it. Initially opposed to the establishment of a Senate, he was eventually a supporter and strongly wished it to be preserved. There was no answer possible to the question 'Well, what do you think he would do in this current economic crisis?' (I'm thinking, did they even have banks back then? - just joking, and Bertie was doing just fine until he got a bank account!)

The complexity of the politics of that time was evidenced by the many questions in the room.

Multi-faceted and fascinating, the former Taoiseach, born in 1899, died relatively young as a result of smoking plug tobacco inhaled through a pipe. He famously secured a huge consignment of the stuff from the factory which was closing, which he kept in the fridge. He loved to play poker and back horses, continuing to place bets by phone from his hospital bed.

Lemass’s daughter married Charles Haughey and another Irish political dynasty was begun.