Charles Haughey

An Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey

Rank:	6th
Terms in Office:	December 11, 1979 - June 30, 1981 March 9, 1982 - December 14, 1982 March 10 1987 - February 11 1992
Predecessors:	Jack Lynch Garret FitzGerald
Successors:	Garret FitzGerald Albert Reynolds
Date of Birth:	September 16, 1925
Place of Birth:	Mayo, Ireland
Profession:	Accountant
Political Party:	Fianna Fáil

Early Life

Charles J. Haughey was born on September 16 1925 in Castlebar, County Mayo. Haughey was educated at St Joseph's, Marino in Dublin. He qualified as an accountant from University College Dublin and went on for further studies at King's Inns. Both Haughey's parents, Seán and Sarah, were both from Derry and were active during the War of Independence. When Charles was born his father was serving in the army, however, he developed multiple sclerosis and had to retire. The family then moved to Dublin. Before Haughey was elected to Dáil Éireann he was employed in the accountancy firm Haughey, Boland.

Minister for Justice

Haughey was one of the most controversial of Irish politicians. He started his political career with an embarrassing defeat in a by-election. However, in the Irish General Election, 1957 he was elected to Dáil Éireann. His first ministerial post was Parliamentary Secretary (junior minister) to the Minister for Justice, Oscar Traynor. Though Haughey was the son-in-law of then-party-leader and Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, Lemass urged Haughey to decline the offer, which was made by the cabinet. Haughey took the post anyway, ultimately replacing Traynor as Justice Minister, with a seat in cabinet in 1961.

Haughey proved to be perhaps the best Minister for Justice in Irish history, initiating a scale of legislative reform that was unparalleled, before or since. In 1964, when the Minister of Agriculture, Paddy Smith, resigned in a major row, Lemass moved Haughey to that department. His period as Agriculture Minister was less successful, however. He served as President Eamon de Valera's director of elections in the Irish presidential election, 1966. He convinced Telifís Éireann not to cover the campaign of the rival candidate, Fine Gael's Tom O'Higgins, on the basis that as de Valera wasn't campaigning, to cover O'Higgins would be unfair. However de Valera then got a high public profile as President and as the last survivor of the senior leaders of the Easter Rising during the 1966 Rising's fiftieth commemoration. However his campaign went badly wrong, with de Valera only scraping re-election by ten thousand votes out of a total poll of nearly one million. De Valera developed a negative view of Haughey, whom he distrusted and whom he told another minister some years later would destroy Fianna Fáil.

Backed out of 1966 leadership bid

Arms Crisis, 1970

Taoiseach

In 1975 Fianna Fáil was in opposition. Haughey was appointed as the party's spokesman on Health. After the landslide victory in the Irish General Election, 1977 Haughey was appointed Minister for Health. In 1979 Jack Lynch retired as Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader. George Colley and Haughey were the two candidates in the leadership contest. Haughey was elected leader and was appointed Taoiseach by the Dáil. His first government failed to tackle the economic crisis in the country at the time. In 1981 an election was called and a Fine Gael-Labour coalition came to power. This lasted until 1982 when Haughey returned as Taoiseach. However in November 1982 another election was called and the coalition came to power again.

In the Irish General Election, 1987 Haughey became Taoiseach in a minority Fianna Fáil government. His administration made serious progress regarding the restoration of the balance in the public finances. In 1989 another election was called however Fianna Fáil lost seats in the Dáil. A coalition government was formed between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, headed by Desmond O'Malley. In 1991 Haughey and the Ministe rfor Foreign Affairs, Gerard Collins, officially signed in Ireland as members of the single European currency - the Euro. In November 1991 Albert Reynolds challenged Haughey for the position of Fianna Fáil leader. He was unsuccessful in his bid and resigned as Minister for Finance.

Resignation following accusations

In February 1992 former Minister for Justice, Seán Doherty, stated in a television interview that Haughey had been aware of the telephone tappings of two political journalists in 1982. Haughey denied this but was forced to resign as Taoiseach. Albert Reynolds became Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader.

Haughey cancer

Media reports in May 2003 suggested that Haughey, who had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 1995 had suffered a major sudden decline in health. His son, Sean Haughey, TD flew back from abroad to join his family at Haughey's bedside in a Dublin hospital. However Haughey recovered. However on 13 August 2003 it was revealed that Haughey, facing demands to pay millions of euro in back taxes on undeclared income, had to sell his large georgian residence and estate in Kinsealy in north County Dublin. It was reported that the deal would net Haughey 35 million euro before tax. Haughey will however continue to own his own private island, Innisvickalaun, one of the famed Blasket Islands.

Taoiseach (1977-1979)