Conor Lenihan hints at another Dáil run

Former minister Conor Lenihan has signalled he will run for the Dáil again if Fianna Fáil make him an offer he “cannot refuse”.

Mr Lenihan said he would be willing to concentrate on domestic politics rather than his business interests in Russia because Ireland “needs leadership”.

The former TD said he would stay out of politics “unless they make me an offer I cannot refuse”.

“My former party hasn’t done that — the Russians did,” he told RTÉ.

The ex-junior minister, and brother to the late Brian Lenihan Jr, said Ireland’s institutions needed a radical overhaul.

“I would never rule it out if people were interested in having me run,” he said. “I would look at it very seriously. I think the country does need leadership.”

Mr Lenihan is set to publish a biography of Charles Haughey, whom he says his father bore no grudge against despite clashes when they were in government.

Mr Lenihan would not be drawn on a tribunal ruling Mr Haughey had misappropriated £45,000 from a medical fund for Mr Lenihan Sr, as his father received the transplant required and the donations were given by other people.