‘Only for Charlie, we’d have nothing’
That’s how a Dingle fisherman yesterday summed up the contribution of Charlie Haughey to an area genuinely loved, since he first visited more than 50 years ago.
As news of his passing came through the fishing port and tourist town, there were only words of praise for a man that enjoyed the unconditional adulation of many of its people.
His critics remained silent on a sombre occasion when, according to time- honoured tradition, you must only speak well of the dead.
A reporter that gave a reminder of tribunals and revelations about the ex-Taoiseach was given a quick brush-off.
“What scandals?” said fish processor Micheál Ó Cathain. “Sure they’re only small little things.”
Charlie would remain the king of Dingle, he said.
Retired fisherman Paddy Flannery stood beside a monument to Charlie Haughey, erected on Dingle pier by local fishermen. “Only for Charlie, we’d have nothing. He made Dingle,” he said.
The fishermen came up with €10,000 for the monument, unveiled last August. They placed a bunch of flowers at the monument, yesterday, with the simple message, ‘To Charlie from Dingle fishermen’.
For years, the harbour had been neglected, but Charlie got the full credit for a major dredging operation, the extension and widening of the pier, and development of a 60-berth marina. In today’s terms, his legacy to the harbour is reckoned to be worth at least €30 million.
One of his closest friends in Dingle is former FF senator and fisherman Tom Fitzgerald. At the request of the Haughey family, Mr Fitzgerald will read one of the prayers at his funeral Mass on Friday.
He said people in Dingle looked up to Mr Haughey as a statesman and a person who could relate to them at their own level.
“He regarded west Kerry as a hideaway to which he could get away in turbulent political times. He knew people in Kerry wouldn’t be asking him about politics. They’re rather talk about football, or have a bit of craic with him,” said Mr Fitzgerald, who was with the Haughey family in Kinsealy, last night.
Another close friend was Kerry football legend Páidi Ó Sé, who visited Charlie last Wednesday.
“I didn’t expect him to go so quickly. He will be remembered for a long time in the Dingle Peninsula,” said Mr Ó Sé said.
