President will be the stronger after coming through this tough test

During the RTE 'Frontline' debate by the candidates for the presidency on Monday evening, more than one candidate expressed the hope that they would all be truthful and transparent about their past. They all gave a pledge that if anything untoward, shameful or embarrassing to the office of President arose during their term, they would resign. The nearest we have come to that scenario was in September 1979 when political correspondents were invited to Aras an Uachtarain where they were told by then President, Patrick Hillery, that he was denying rumours that he was involved in a 'sex scandal'. At that time, the international press corps had been travelling to Ireland to cover the visit here of Pope John Paul II. They told their Irish colleagues that Europe was awash with the rumours that our President had a mistress living with him in the presidential home, that he and his wife were divorcing and that he was resigning the presidency. It was sensational at the time, a moment in history - on the eve of a visit by the leader of the world's Catholics - when the office of President could have been irreparably damaged. The record states that Hillery denied all the rumours and the matter has lain there ever since. Of course, this wasn't the only controversy of his presidency. A second crisis followed in 1982 but, in this case, the rumours did not centre on Hillery, but rather on his former party colleagues in Fianna Fail who were accused of 'leaning' on him to carry out their wishes on the dissolution of the government of the day. In this case, Hillery's reputation soared as a result of the stand he took. In January 1982, the Fine Gael-Labour government lost a vote on the budget in the Dail. That was the infamous 'VAT on children's shoes' budget when there was backbench opposition to this particular kind of tax. Fianna Fail was the largest party in the Dail (led by Charles Haughey) and would have been in line to form a new government if President Hillery refused a dissolution of the Dail. It is reported that, on the night, Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald met the President to inform him of events in the Dail, and several different members of the Oireachtas attempted to get in touch with Dr Hillery by phone. Among these were Charles Haughey, Sylvester Barrett and Brian Lenihan, senior. The President ordered his military aide, Captain Anthony Barber, to not put through phone calls from opposition figures. The President showed determination in sticking to the constitution which states that a Dail dissolution is a matter for him alone. Which brings us to the present election which takes place this week. There have been appeals, mainly from the candidates and their agents, it has to be said, for a concentration in the media on the future rather than on the past. As Mandy Rice Davies might say: "They would say that, wouldn't they?" There have also been claims from the candidates that the media has been unfair in its coverage of the presidential campaign. Of course it has been tough - on the candidates themselves and their families and friends. Remember the heady early days of the campaign when David Norris raced ahead in the polls, a shoo-in, it was thought. There has been a fair amount of imploding of candidates' aspirations since then - Dana and her family troubles, Mary Davis and the 'quango queen' tag, David Norris and those letters, Gay Mitchell's failure to connect (although a doughty fighter), Sean Gallagher and the €5,000 cheque collection, Martin McGuinness and the "awkward questions", Michael D Higgins being steamrollered by the opinion polls. The media may have adopted an American-style examination of politics but it runs like this - if someone puts him/herself forward for election they must be tested, and tested almost to destruction. It isn't a question of whether this is fair or unfair, nor a question of whether the matters under scrutiny are wounding or too intrusive. The media has lost its reticence in questioning candidates about their past. The fiercely tough questions are now being asked. We should all say "about time". The Presidency will be all the better for it.