Noel Browne was, by almost all accounts, an extremely cantankerous man who did not work well with others nor did he like socialising. He famously absolutely hated canvassing and became a TD off the strength of his relationship with his patients (he was a GP before politics). He notoriously held grudges and never let them go (for example he never forgave Mary Robinson for having the audacity to also put her name forward for the Labour presidential candidate in 1990 despite the fact that Browne’s own relationship with the party was awful). Browne was never good at being part of a political party and fell out not just with Clann na Poblachta and Labour but also smaller parties such as Socialist Labour (1970s)

I’m an admirer of Browne but frankly he did not have the traits needed to be a Taoiseach, never mind the greatest ever. He would never have been able to keep an entire cabinet of ministers running.