Charles Haughey
Charles James Haughey (/ˈhɔːhi/;[1] 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from 1987 to 1992, Leader of the Opposition from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1979 to 1992, Minister for Social Welfare and for Health from 1977 to 1979, Minister for Finance from 1966 to 1970, Minister for Agriculture from 1964 to 1966, Minister for Justice from 1961 to 1964 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Justice from 1959 to 1961. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1957 to 1992.[2]
Charles Haughey
Patrick Hillery
Garret FitzGerald
Garret FitzGerald
Patrick Hillery
Garret FitzGerald
Himself
Patrick Hillery
Garret FitzGerald
Garret FitzGerald
Patrick Hillery
Garret FitzGerald
Garret FitzGerald
Garret FitzGerald
- George Colley
- Ray MacSharry
- Brian Lenihan Snr
- John Wilson
Jack Lynch
Albert Reynolds
Jack Lynch
Jack Lynch
Brendan Corish
Michael Woods
Jack Lynch
Jack Lynch
George Colley
Neil Blaney
(Agriculture & Fisheries)
Seán Lemass
Brian Lenihan Snr
16 September 1925
Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland
4, including Seán
Seán Lemass (father-in-law)
1941–1957
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Haughey was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD in 1957 and was re-elected at every election until 1992, representing successively the Dublin North-East, Dublin Artane and Dublin North-Central constituencies.
Haughey was the dominant Irish politician of his generation,[3] as well as the most controversial.[4] Upon entering government in the early 1960s, Haughey became the symbol of a new vanguard of Irish Ministers.[5] As Taoiseach, he is credited by some economists with starting the positive transformation of the economy in the late 1980s.[6] However, his career was also marked by several major scandals. Haughey was implicated in the Arms Crisis of 1970, which nearly destroyed his career. His political reputation revived, his tenure as Taoiseach was then damaged by the sensational GUBU Affair in 1982; his party leadership was challenged four times, each time unsuccessfully, earning Haughey the nickname "The Great Houdini".[4] Revelations about his role in a phone tapping scandal forced him to resign as Taoiseach and retire from politics in 1992.
After Haughey's forced retirement, further revelations of political corruption, embezzlement, tax evasion and a 27-year extra-marital affair further tarnished his already crumbling reputation and legacy.[7] He died of prostate cancer in 2006, aged 80.[8]
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Early life[edit]
He was born in Castlebar, County Mayo in 1925, the third of seven children, of Seán Haughey and Sarah McWilliams, both natives of Swatragh, County Londonderry. Haughey's father was in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence, then in the National Army of the Irish Free State. Seán Haughey left the army in 1928 and the family moved to County Meath; he subsequently developed multiple sclerosis and the family moved again to Donnycarney, a northern working class suburb of Dublin, where Charles Haughey spent his youth.[9][10]
Haughey was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers at St Joseph's secondary school in Fairview, where one of his classmates was George Colley, subsequently his cabinet colleague and rival in Fianna Fáil. In his youth he was an active amateur sportsman, playing Gaelic football with the Parnells GAA Club in Donnycarney; he won a Dublin Senior Football Championship medal in 1945. Haughey studied commerce at University College Dublin (UCD), where he took a first class Honours degree in 1946. It was at UCD that Haughey became increasingly interested in politics and was elected Auditor of the Commerce & Economics Society. He also met there one of his future political rivals, Garret FitzGerald.[11]
He joined the Local Defence Force during "The Emergency" in 1941 and considered a permanent career in the Army. He continued to serve in the reserve FCÁ force, until entering Dáil Éireann in 1957.[12][13]
On VE-day Haughey and other UCD students burnt the British Union Jack on College Green, outside Trinity College Dublin, in response to a perceived disrespect afforded the Irish tricolour among the flags hung by the college in celebration of the Allied victory which ended World War II.
[5][14]
Haughey qualified as a chartered accountant and also attended King's Inns. He was subsequently called to the Irish Bar. Shortly afterwards, he set up the accountancy firm of Haughey, Boland & Company with Harry Boland, son of Fianna Fáil Minister Gerald Boland.
On 18 September 1951, he married Maureen Lemass, the daughter of the Fianna Fáil Minister and future Taoiseach Seán Lemass, having been close to her since their days at UCD, where they first met.[10] They had four children together: Eimear, Conor, Ciarán and Seán.[10]
After selling his house in Raheny in 1969, Haughey bought Abbeville and its estate of approximately 250 acres (100 ha), located at Kinsealy, north County Dublin. This historic house, once owned by Anglo-Irish politician John Beresford, had been extensively re-designed by the architect James Gandon in the late 18th century and it became the Haughey family home, where he lived for the rest of his life.[15] This marked the beginning of a long period when Haughey's spending was well beyond his apparent income level. For the rest of his life Haughey would refuse to say where the extra money came from.
Ministerial office[edit]
Minister for Justice[edit]
When Traynor retired in 1961, Haughey succeeded him as Minister for Justice. As such, he initiated an extensive scale of legislative reforms. He introduced new legislation including the Adoption Act; the Succession Act, which protected the inheritance rights of wives and children;[22] the Criminal Justice Act, which severely restricted the application of capital punishment; and the Extradition Act, which virtually prevented extradition for IRA offences. Haughey also introduced the Special Military Courts which helped to defeat the Irish Republican Army's Border Campaign.[5]
Minister for Agriculture: 1966 Farmers' Strike[edit]
In 1964, Lemass appointed Haughey as Minister for Agriculture.[23] Criticism was voiced from the National Farmers Association (NFA) of the appointment of a non-rural person to the position, and there was increased antagonism from farmers towards the government. Haughey became embroiled in a series of controversies with the NFA and with another organisation, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA).[5] Twenty-seven ICMSA picketers outside Leinster House, were arrested on 27 April 1966 under the Offences Against the State Act, an act originally intended for use against the IRA. 78 were arrested the following day, and 80 a day later as the dispute escalated. The general public was supportive of the farmers, who were not in a position to hold a strike to air their grievances, and who were clearly only posing a problem to the Minister, rather than the state. The farmers then began a national solidarity campaign, and even farmers who supported Fianna Fáil turned against the government. Haughey, who did not rely on rural voters, was under intense pressure from fearful members of his own party to negotiate a deal and reduce the tension. It was Haughey's first alienation of a significant voting block, and probably damaged him electorally in later years as many farmers remembered the events, known in folk memory as the "Farmers' Strike".
Death and funeral[edit]
Haughey's attendance before the tribunals had repeatedly been disrupted by illness.[59] He died from prostate cancer, from which he had suffered for a decade, on 13 June 2006, at his home in Kinsealy, County Dublin, aged 80.[60]
Haughey received a state funeral on 16 June 2006.[60] He was buried in St. Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton in County Dublin, following mass at Donnycarney. The then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern delivered the graveside oration.[61]
The funeral rites were screened live on RTÉ One and watched by a quarter of a million people. It was attended by President Mary McAleese, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, members of the Oireachtas, many from the world of politics, industry and business.[62] The chief celebrant was Haughey's brother, Father Eoghan Haughey.
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The following governments were led by Haughey:
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