 When Lynch returned he was confronted openly by Síle de Valera, Dr Bill Loughnane, a noted hardline Republican backbencher, along with Tom McEllistrim, a member of Haughey's gang of five, at a parliamentary party meeting.Lynch stated that the British did not have permission to overfly the border.Afterwards Loughnane went public with the details of the meeting and accused Lynch of deliberately misleading the party.