McCreevy’s stand on political expediency comes back to haunt him

GENERAL elections seem to be developing into an auction in promises,” Charlie McCreevy complained in the early ’80s. “We are so hell-bent on assuming power that we are prepared to do anything for it.”

He was one of the backbenchers who helped Charles Haughey to become Taoiseach, but he was also one of the first of his supporters to have the guts to criticise him publicly.

“We need a strong Government to take unpopular decisions in the short term and to place the long-term overall good before short-term expediency,” McCreevy declared in an interview on April 27, 1981.