Dunlop on Haughey, Lynch and Thatcher
Dunlop on Haughey meeting with Helmut Schmidt:
Mr Dunlop reveals that shortly after becoming Taoiseach in 1979 Mr Haughey sought private talks with the then German Chancellor Mr Helmut Schmidt
"The meeting between the two men was fascinating. Its real purpose was that Charlie wanted to know if Schmidt would lend Ireland money on the back of the oil and natural gas that were being discovered off the coast. Schmidt chain-smoked throughout and both seemed very cautious about saying exactly what they had in mind".
Dunlop on Jack Lynch:
"In the weeks leading up to the Pope's visit I began to notice that Jack was becoming testier by the day".
During the visit, while senior ministers were in the Papal Nunciature awaiting the Pope's return from Drogheda, Mr Dunlop says that he was approached by a journalist seeking the Taoiseach's response to the Pope's appeal to the IRA to end violence..
"I found Lynch, who was in the company of two other Cabinet ministers, and put the journalist's request to him. Jack bared his teeth and told me not only to tell him to f*** off but to f*** off yourself. Thereafter I maintained a discreet distance from the man with whom I was supposed to be working closely and with whom I reportedly had an almost father-son relationship".
Dunlop on Lynch meeting Margaret Thatcher after death of Lord Mountbatten:
"Nothing could have prepared us for the onslaught that awaited us. She was incensed that Ireland was doing nothing, in her view, to police the Border. Nobody in the Irish delegation was expecting a tirade of such vehemence and Lynch, who at this stage had lost the fire in his stomach on matters of this sort, was slow to react. Thatcher saw his silence as agreement, tacit or otherwise, with her point of view. I think it was at this terrible encounter that I finally realised that Jack Lynch was coasting as Taoiseach".