Haughey recalled for measures such as £15 heifer subsidy

IT WAS October, 1964 when Charles Haughey, one of a new breed of mohair-suited and suave politicians, moved to the Department of Agriculture, with a reputation of having been a reforming Minister for Justice.

He was a surprise appointment, after veteran Cavan politician Paddy Smith had resigned suddenly from the Agriculture post, in protest over Government economic policy, and in particular over what he saw as concessions to the trade union movement.

In the 1960s, Ireland still had a heavily agricultural economy. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in a statement last week said it was a measure of the confidence that his father-in-law, Taoiseach Sean Lemass, had in Haughey, that he did not hesitate to give this important position to a Dublin TD.