Charlie Haughey
A fine
Irish Rebel!
1925-2006

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Not since the Civil War has an Irish politician been the subject of such adulation and execration as Charlie Haughey. Throughout a political career that spanned five decades, Haughey dismissed most of the criticism as the begrudgery of those who could not accept ‘an upstart from Donnycarney’.

He was actually born in Castlebar, Co Mayo, on 16 September 1925. His father was an officer in the IRA, and later the Irish army. Shortly after his death the family moved to Dublin, where the young Haughey had a modest, unremarkable upbringing. But despite his relatively humble origins, ‘The Boss’, as he became known, was a natural aristocrat, utterly dismissive of his detractors.

For years, the questions about Haughey's wealth were whispered from circle to circle. But it was not until Dunne's admission that he had given money to politicians that the tribunals heard publicly about Haughey's wealth and how he spent it.

Even before he became Taoiseach Haughey had become used to living beyond his means. In 1980 he managed to get AIB to write off £400,000 from an overdraft which had climbed to over £1 million.

The McCracken Tribunal heard that Haughey received £1.3 million from Dunne between 1987 and 1992. This confirmed what some had long suspected, but the public was nevertheless deeply shocked.

The tribunals never established whether favours were done in exchange for the many gifts, but Justice McCracken concluded that Haughey had compromised the office of the Taoiseach and had obstructed the tribunal. The Moriarty Tribunal went on to investigate Haughey's finances, including the complex off-shore money trail created by his accountant, Des Traynor.

In 2003, Haughey sold Abbeville, his estate in Kinsealy in north Dublin, for a reported €45 million. In the same year, he agreed to pay €5 million to the Revenue Commissioners to settle his outstanding tax liabilities.

In his last Dáil address Haughey said: 'I have always sought to act solely and exclusively in the best interests of the Irish people.’ Even allowing for his public ignominy in the interim, Charles Haughey remained unflinching and, in his own terms, undefeated.