June 13, 2006 at 8:07PM Charles J. Haughey dead
Haughey was one of our former Taoisigh (Heads of Government, pronounced /ti:Si:C/, the plural of Taoiseach, pronounced /ti:SAx/, at least where I’m from) and died earlier today of prostate cancer.
It would be a severe understatement to say I have no great love for the man. He was scum. Pure, untainted scum. Lauded though he may be by some parts of society here, he, in my eyes at least, deserves none of it. He stole from us, lied to us, attempted to subvert the state, and many of the governments he was a major part of or lead slowly destroyed the country’s economy.
And yet he managed to preside over three governments. The last thing the man deserves is a state funeral.
It’s the passing of an era alright. This marks the definite end of Ireland’s modern dark age. Burn in hell.
1 On June 14, 2006 at 4:52, Topper wrote:
Ouch. Fair enough but “Burn in Hell” - that’s harsh bud. :D
2 On June 14, 2006 at 8:17, Keith wrote:
If you think that’s harsh, you should have read what I wrote the first time around! That’s the sanitised version you’re after reading.
3 On June 17, 2006 at 0:45, Sharon. wrote:
We published a ‘tribute’ to the late Mr. Haughey on our blog . The brown envelope is in the post - all ‘donations’ welcome ....
Sharon .
4 On June 19, 2006 at 20:07, brian wrote:
many people in this country think charlie does deserve a funeral because he laid the foundations for the prosperity of Ireland, his only problem was gulable idiots like you who believed all the rubbish said about him by a british controleed media thathated him.
5 On June 20, 2006 at 3:48, Keith wrote:
Brian, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Before you start casting aspersions on my intelligence, you should learn how to spell and write properly.
Considering the fact that I don’t give two hoots what the British media have to say, and I’m quite capable of forming my own opinions, my gullibility, or rather lack thereof, is not the question. More likely is that your loyalty to the man is given uncritically.
I see him as the man who, during his term as Minister of Health, turned a functioning health system into the mess we know it today by bending to special interests. I see him as the man, who as Taoiseach in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s cowardly ignored and then aggravated an already brittle economy, leaving his successors in the FG/Lab coalition to fix things. Then when FitzGerald and Bruton attempted to triage and heal the economy, he stood in their way, eventually forcing FitzGerald to call an election.
Of course, Haughey’s feint succeeded, even though when he had to eventually face reality and do something, his previous actions came back to bite him on his ass. The only good thing that came out of it is that FitzGerald got enough of a majority in the following election to do something about fixing the country.
If anybody deserves to the credit for the current relatively healthy state of the economy, it’s the FG/Lab government of 1982-1987. All he did afterwards was continue policies that the previous FG/Lab coalition initiated, and only because Garret FitzGerald publicly stated he and FG would support FF’s minority government if they continued with sound economic policy. Now that is what a real leader does.
This isn’t a pro-FG bias or and anti-FF bias. The only Taoiseach I can rightly says I have nothing but contempt for is Haughey. The only good thing I can say about the man is that he had a great Father-in-Law.