HE WAS known as "the other Michael Noonan". Not the astute and loquacious health minister from Limerick East but the stolid farmer from Limerick West. Not the polished Fine Gael performer who routed the former High Court judge, Mr Rory O'Hanlon, on TV during the divorce campaign but the "awkward" traditionalist who refused to go along with the Fianna Fail leadership on the same issue.
But the Fianna Fail man has not always languished in the shadow of his namesake. Like Andy Warhol promised, Michael J. Noonan had his 15 minutes of fame. This happened when Charles J. Haughey, still new in the job of Taoiseach, formally opened an extension to the milking parlour on Noonan's farm in the Co Limerick townland of Crean in 1980.
The wags said it was the first time a head of government opened a cowshed. Others took a less lighthearted view and there was said to be ill feeling in the local Fianna Fail organisation because party colleagues of Noonan's, including his fellow TD and internal rival, Gerard Collins, were not invited.
Devotion to Charles Haughey was one of the hallmarks of Michael J. Noonan's career. There was no mention of Albert Reynolds, Bertie Ahern or Jack
Lynch in his statement announcing his retirement at the next general election but he did pay tribute to "the steadfast spirit of de Valera, the vision of Lemass and the dynamism of Haughey".
It was, of course, part of the "discreet charm" of Charles Haughey that he could appeal both to urban artists and intellectuals and to solid 130 acre farmers from the Golden Vale people who would rarely be seen in each other's company.
When Haughey appointed Noonan Minister for Defence, some observers saw it as a move aimed at discomfiting Collins. Noonan had a difficult time in the job. There was a fierce controversy over soldiers' pay culminating in a protest by Army wives at the Curragh Camp. Hecklers shouted "chicken" and several placards bore the message: "Enjoy today this could be your last few days."
The placards were prophetic a general election resulted in coalition with the PDs and Noonan and others were dropped from the Cabinet to make room for members of the minor party. Noonan got the consolation prize of junior minister for the Marine.
His admiration for Haughey remains undimmed. "After Lemass, I think he was one of the best leaders this country ever had," he said last night.
The eventual departure of Haughey tell him politically high and dry. Albert Reynolds became Taoiseach and, in a speech circulated on St Patrick's Day, 1993, Noonan said Reynolds was not fit to lead Fianna Fail because of his alleged willingness to change or drop Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution in advance of agreement on a united Ireland.
Others were talking out of the sides of their mouths about Reynolds but never tackled the party leader head on. But Michael J. Noonan only knew the "Modh Direach". Reynolds warned the dissidents at a party meeting but that very evening Noonan was at it again, accusing his leader of "double think and woolly thinking" on the North.
Again Noonan was high and dry. The whip was removed from him at a parliamentary party meeting where no one came to his defence. What Reynolds called "a clique with another agenda" held their fire for another day.
He remains an unapologetic nationalist, arguing there should be no change in Articles 2 and 3 "until there's a new constitution for the island of Ireland".
The whip was restored to him under Bertie Ahern's leadership but before long he was in trouble again. When the party voted for the divorce referendum Bill last year, Noonan abstained and lost the whip again.
At the time, he claimed the enormous majority" of Fianna Fail were against divorce. He accused Ahern and frontbench spokesman, Dr Michael Woods, of "deliberate misrepresentation" of the majority view.
He points out now that he was the only TD in the Dail who represented that 50 per cent of the people who voted No in the referendum. "As a democrat I have accepted the will of the people." However, he retains the belief that divorce is "bad for society".
Speculation now centres on the likelihood of Fianna Fail retaining two seats out of three in Limerick West. Senior Fianna Fail sources are confident of doing so but there is some scepticism among elements of the party at local level. Collins, who holds a dual mandate as a TD and Member of the European Parliament, is a big vote puller and the party clearly needs him to stand in the general election with a strong running mate, if one can be found. The sitting Fine Gael TD is Michael Finucane and his party colleague, Senator Dan Neville, will be challenging for the second seat.
Born in 1935, Michael J. Noonan became a county councillor in 1967 and has been a member of the Dail since 1969. He has been described as Fianna Fail's answer to the Rev Willie McCrea and his retirement from politics probably marks the disappearance from the scene of that combination of traditional nationalism and conservative moral views which survives among the older population in rural areas but is virtually absent from Leinster House.
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, paid tribute to Mr Michael J. Noonan. In his years in Leinster House, Mr Noonan had "served the Fianna Fail party, the country and his constituents well", Mr Ahern said. Senator Dan Neville of Fine Gael who is also from Limerick West said Mr Noonan was "a decent honourable man who gave very good service to his constituents".