Haughey's Forty Years of Controversy by T. Ryle Dwyer Read Free Book Online Page A

cast over the operations of Taca and it ‘unfortunately provided a basis for political attack which,’ Charlie said, ‘did us a lot of damage at the time’.
    Insinuations of corruption were widespread and these had been fuelled in May 1967 when George Colley urged those attending a Fianna Fáil youth conference in Galway not to be ‘dispirited if some people in high places appear to have low standards’. It was widely assumed that Colley was alluding to Charlie in particular, in view of the intensity of their rivalry over the party leadership some months earlier, but Colley rather disingenuously denied this intent.
    Haughey was involved with Donagh O’Malley in Reema (Ireland) Ltd., a property company of which O’Malley was the chief executive and Charlie was secretary. Reema bought property around Limerick on the road to Shannon airport. At the time, there were suggestions that he and O’Malley used inside knowledge.
    When it came to money matters Charlie was very much a mystery man. Following their marriage the Haugheys initially lived in a semi-detached house in a Raheny housing estate, but in 1957, they moved to Grangemore, a large Victorian mansion on a 45 acre site in Raheny. The builder Matt Gallagher advised Haughey to splash out £13,000 to buy the house and lands in Raheny, with the promise that when the time was right and planning permission had been secured to build houses on the property, he would buy it from him.
    In his early years in the Dáil, Charlie projected a high public profile and enjoyed a good press, but he was quiet about his own private life and especially his business dealings. He appeared to amass a considerable fortune at a time when politicians were not a particularly well paid. ‘Now to be a wealthy politician was the sin of the day – and Charlie Haughey was indecently wealthy,’ according to columnist John Healy. ‘If a pub changed hands, Haughey was the secret buyer.’ At one point, he supposedly owned about five on the north and south sides of Dublin.
    In 1968, Haughey bought a 127-acre stud farm in Rathoath, Co. Meath for £30,000 without taking out a mortgage. He was a full-time politician, and was no longer earning from the accountancy firm that he had established with Harry Boland. His only visible income was his ministerial salary of £3,500, but the subsequent profit that he made from the sale of his Raheny property some months later would have more than accounted for the purchase price of the farm. Of course, he protested that his business dealings were all legitimate, but his subsequent behaviour cast serious doubts on both his veracity and his financial probity.
    In the midst of the general election campaign of 1969 Charlie found himself implicated in further controversy, following a sensational report in the Evening Herald about the sale of his Raheny home, which the newspaper stated was sold to his developer friend, Matt Gallagher, for over £204,000. Charlie used this money to purchase Abbeville and the surrounding 240 acres for £144,997, so even with the purchase of the farm in Co. Meath, he would still have had about £25,000 left over.
    â€˜I object to my private affairs being used in this way,’ Charlie declared. None of the figures could be given with certainty, because he did not give details to any reporter. ‘It is a private matter between myself and the purchaser.’
    Planning permission would inevitably be granted for the land, regardless of who owned it, once Dublin began to spread out. Gallagher’s advice was not particularly inspired, but Haughey had the advantage of knowing that he had an eventual buyer when he purchased the land. By hanging on to the property for a decade its value appreciated greatly. Some opponents tried to suggest that there was something immoral about the profit he made on the whole venture. Maybe what they should really have been questioning was the cost