Former TD Michael Noonan on hunt for crème de menthe frappé in Limerick with Garret FitzGerald

MICHAEL Noonan has recalled a night out in Ballingarry with former Taoiseach, the late Dr Garret FitzGerald - and his interesting choice of tipple at the bar!

Mr FitzGerald succeeded Liam Cosgrave as leader of Fine Gael, at a time when the party was at a low ebb, having lost the 1977 General Election heavily.

In a bid to rebuild its ranks from the grass roots up, the new party leader took a tour around the country.

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Former finance Minister Michael Noonan recalled a stop-off in Ballingarry, part of the Limerick West constituency where he was then chairman.

“Ballingarry has two things about it - it is fairly central in the constituency, and it has one of those huge Muintir na Tire halls. Close to 1,000 people turned up that night,” he recalled.

“By the time proceedings were over, we went for a drink. There were several pubs in Ballingarry, but the Fine Gael activists liked to go down to Mary Quaid’s.

“I said to Garret, ‘can I get you a drink, Dr Fitzgerald?’

“He said, ‘you know what I’d like? I’d love to have a creme de menthe frappe’,” recalled Mr Noonan.

The former Limerick East TD recalled how he proceeded to the bar, and said: “Mary, Dr Fitzgerald would like a creme de menthe frappe.”

“‘We don’t have it, Michael, we’re sold out’, she said.

“‘There’s been a huge demand in Ballingarry for it!’,” recalled Mr Noonan, of the deadpan response he got.

The former Fine Gael leader recalled the events as he was launching a new book by Corbally-born academic Eoin O’Malley in the Castletroy Park Hotel.

In shops now, Charlie vs Garret tells the story of a political rivalry that shaped modern Ireland between the Fine Gael leader, and the Fianna Fail boss Charlie Haughey.

Mr Noonan recalled that while he was able to call his own party leader by his first name, no matter when he was Taoiseach or leader of the opposition, it was always Mr Haughey, as opposed to ‘Charlie’.

“Everyone in the Dail was aware of a certain tension between them, a certain conflict and competition between then. And antagonism.

“It was a most interesting time,” he said.

Mr Noonan - who served as TD between 1981 and 2020 - said there is often “conflict for conflict’s sake” within Government and opposition politicians.

But with Mr Haughey and Dr FitzGerald, things were different.

“There was personal needle between the two of them,” he admitted.

Speaking to Limerick Live, after the proceedings, the former Finance Minister revealed he has left the city and returned to his old parish in West Limerick, where he enjoyed daily swims in the estuary through the summer months.

“The weather was very poor in July, but August it got better, and I’ve been enjoying it,” he said.

Prior to launching Mr O’Malley’s book, Mr Noonan had been on the campaign trail with Fine Gael presidential hopeful Heather Humphreys.

Describing the Monaghan woman as “a very warm candidate”, he dismissed criticism of the fact that only three are on the ballot for the election later this month.

“There’s a nomination process. It’s the same for everybody. If you take the Dail and Seanad together, there must be 230 members now. If you can’t get 20 of them, why should you be on the ballot paper?” he asked.

During his six years as finance minister, he believes he did get a lot of abuse on social media.

“But there was an instruction in the office - never show any of it to the minister,” he revealed, “so I didn't really know about it.

It seems to be more personal now, and nasty,” he added.