[1] Born in Dublin in 1959, Lenihan grew up in Athlone, County Westmeath until the age of 12, attending the local Marist Brothers primary school.

(first class) at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and was called to the Irish Bar by the Honorable Society of King's Inns.

[10] Lenihan first held political office in 1996 when he was asked to stand in the Dublin West by-election, which was prompted by the death of his father.

Lenihan was often deployed as a representative of government on topical issues or television shows, and was known for giving his personal opinion on some matters.

[17] When three Irishmen fled convictions on terrorism charges they had received in Colombia, the Minister described their return as "most unhelpful to the peace process".

[24] Lenihan denied Brian Cowen was "setting a bad example" following a 2007 Hot Press interview in which the future Taoiseach admitted smoking cannabis in his student past.

[30] On 25 October 2005, he expressed upset as a government representative at the "repeated failure and gross dereliction of duties" highlighted in the Ferns Report.

[34] Before leaving office in 2007, he announced several new items, including a review of pedophilia and an increase in the number of judges and other officials working with criminal children.

[36] After the 2007 general election, Fianna Fáil formed a new coalition government under Taoiseach Bertie Ahern with the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats, and the support of Independent TDs.

Lenihan was appointed as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the only Fianna Fáil TD to be promoted to the cabinet.

[39] His first function as Minister for Justice was to attend the graduation of newly trained members of the Garda Síochána Reserve on 16 June 2007.

On 18 September 2008, Lenihan issued an emergency phone call to Director-General of RTÉ Cathal Goan after an edition of the radio phone-in programme Liveline, presented by Joe Duffy, led to mass concerns that Ireland's banking system was on the verge of collapse.

[45] The Minister warned in an interview the following day with Economics Editor for RTÉ George Lee that the public need not react "on the basis of unfounded allegations made on radio programmes".

[50][51] The controversial measure of removing Medical Cards from most over-70-year-olds (by means testing) caused a massive public outcry,[52][53] culminating in a backlash against the government and backbench unease; one Fianna Fáil TD, Joe Behan, left the party in protest.

[58] The Cabinet approved 150 pages of draft legislation outlined by Lenihan at a meeting in late July 2009; it was published later that week.

He previously said that the government's objective in restructuring the banks through NAMA was to "generate more access to credit for Irish business at this critical time".

Cowen was responding to reports published on 8 February that the IMF had told Lenihan in April 2009 that the NAMA would not lead to a significant increase in lending by the banks.

[66] The comments, which appear in internal Department of Finance documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, were made by senior IMF official Steven Seelig who will join the board of NAMA in May 2010.

The Government has maintained that NAMA's purchase of bad loans from the banks with State bonds would increase the flow of credit in the economy since the plan was unveiled in April 2009.

Speaking at the publication of the NAMA legislation in September 2009, Lenihan said it would "strengthen and improve" the funding positions of the banks "so that they can lend to viable businesses and households".

The plan published today updates and revises the interim business plan published in October of last year which was prepared on the basis of information supplied at that time by the five participating institutions (Anglo Irish Bank, AIB, Bank of Ireland, EBS and Irish Nationwide) and in advance of the detailed examination of any of the key loans by NAMA.

[73] Global investors approved the measures introduced by Lenihan, with Irish government bonds receiving a boost following the Budget.

[83][84] The March 2011 issue of Vanity Fair described Lenihan as "tricky," for allegedly manipulating his meetings with the members of the Dáil so that when they emerge, they are the ones who must announce the bad news about the latest budget cuts and tax hikes to the media (and thus bear the brunt of the anger and blame for the austerity measures).

Lenihan's role in post-collapse Ireland is likened in one particularly lurid passage as "normalising a freak show" and attempting to assure the Irish that they didn't all just see what they saw.

Yet, he is also described as "the last remaining Irish politician anywhere near power whose mere appearance does not cause people on the streets of Dublin to explode with either scorn or laughter" because of his perceived innocence and his well-publicised illness.

"I've a very vivid memory of going to Brussels on the final Monday to sign the agreement and being on my own at the airport and looking at the snow gradually thawing and thinking to myself, this is terrible.

An unnamed source described in the Irish Examiner as "close to Mr Lenihan" subsequently said: "It's true he does like eating garlic, but he doesn't chew it like gum – it's good for the blood, apparently".

[97] The "unwarranted intrusion" by TV3 was met with disapproval – even by opposition politicians; Labour Party deputy leader and Finance Spokesperson Joan Burton offered her condolences: "It's certainly not a departure in the media that I would welcome.

[98][99] However, the journalist in question who made the disclosure, Ursula Halligan, received support for report from many publications and journalists, including the political bi-weekly Village magazine, Ger Colleran (then editor of the Irish Daily Star), The Irish Times and The Phoenix magazine, who stated that "If a report of the finance minister facing a serious illness while simultaneously grappling with the biggest financial crisis in the history of the state is not in the public interest, then nothing is".

In a personal statement on 4 January 2010, detailing the precise nature of his illness, Lenihan said he underwent tests prior to Christmas which identified a blockage at the entrance to his pancreas.