If there was one thing which Mr Padraig Flynn resented even more than having to abandon one of Fianna Fail's "core values" by entering into coalition with the Progressive Democrats in 1989, it was the appointment of Ms Mary Harney as Minister of State for Environmental Protection.
Mr Flynn had been Minister for the Environment for the previous two years, with two Fianna Fail colleagues as his "juniors". He relished his magisterial position as head of the Department of the Environment and did not take kindly to the imposition of what he regarded as an interloper from another party.
He sought to isolate Ms Harney by allocating her an office at the eastern end of the Custom House, with its own entrance to the building and as far removed from the ministerial corridor as possible. She was convinced at the time that this was done for reasons of confidentiality as much as pique, to prevent her finding out who he was meeting.
Mr Flynn also called in senior officials of the Department and told them, in his inimitable style as a former national school teacher, that he was the boss and they should pay no attention to the new arrival. Ms Harney countered by making clear to the civil servants that she intended to get things done.
One of the first issues she confronted was the then very serious problem of smog in Dublin. Some months earlier, Mr Flynn had ruled out the option of banning bituminous coal. He claimed that would hurt widows and old-age pensioners.
During the earlier passage of the Air Pollution Bill through the Dail, the only group he had met was the Coal Information Service - the lobbying arm of the coal industry - which maintained that coal was "part of Dublin's heritage". Attempts by environmental groups to meet the Minister to put their point of view got nowhere.
Ms Harney became convinced that the only solution was to ban the substance that was causing the problem - smoky coal.
She believed that Fianna Fail's dilatory approach to the problem had been influenced by contributions from the coal lobby.
After a particularly bad autumn when EU air pollution limits were repeatedly exceeded, the rival Ministers appeared at a press conference in January 1990 to announce a ban on the importation, sale and distribution of bituminous coal.
In what was seen as a classic Fianna Fail compromise, the ban did not extend to burning coal.
Mr Flynn's change of tune was brought about not by Ms Harney directly, but by the then Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey. After she outlined her case to him, he directed Mr Flynn to endorse her policy option.
The junior Minister got on surprisingly well with Mr Haughey. In March 1990, when the Taoiseach's official opening of the West Link bridge was threatened by protests, it was Ms Harney's intervention which defused the situation.
For more than two years, Mr Flynn had been sitting on the report of a public inquiry recommending a Special Amenity Area Order to protect the Liffey Valley - in essence, against unrestricted land rezoning. Exasperated environmentalists and local residents decided to picket the West Link opening to highlight inaction on the SAAO.
While Mr Flynn was away at a European ministerial meeting, Ms Harney managed to persuade the then Taoiseach that the order would have to be signed. And so, on the day before Mr Haughey opened the West Link bridge, he directed Mr Flynn to approve the SAAO and a press announcement quickly followed.
Ms Harney, in addition to claiming a lion's share of the credit for dealing with smog in Dublin, went on to make her name as the Minister who piloted legislation to establish the Environmental Protection Agency through the Dail and Seanad, eclipsing Mr Flynn's previously unchallenged role as spokesman on the environment.