State Papers – Day One: People even sought marriage advice

A TAOISEACH has to be many things but being a marriage counsellor or delivery boy for Johnny Logan probably wasn’t on Charles Haughey’s mind when he took office.

Yet letters to him show many members of the public thought of him when they had a problem.

One 13-year-old boy from Cappamore, Co Limerick, wrote to him shortly before Christmas 1980 to ask him to have a word with the judge to urge him to be lenient in an upcoming court case.

The boy had been caught driving his father’s tractor the previous August and was served two summonses for driving without a licence or insurance while his father was up for allowing his son to drive. The youngster said he was helping his father collect the pikes of hay from the meadow as it was one of the few fine days they had that summer.

“Every Christmas we have a nice time with lots of things to eat etc. This year however we can’t have the usual nice things as there is a lot of expense hanging over us in the new year,” he wrote.

“I thought you might write to Judge De Burca and ask him not to fine us too heavy or we may not have enough to eat in 1981. As you know Mr Haughey, it was a very bad year on farmers.” The childish writing signs off: “Bye-bye now Mr Haughey. Happy Christmas to you.”

It wouldn’t be the only time Haughey had to politely decline to intervene. A man from Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, was aggrieved over the behaviour of his wife. “She has refused to have a child, cook, wash or clean the house. All she does is walk the roads and lie in bed all day,” he wrote.]

“Last year she left my house, stayed away for four months, dossing around with old bachelor men,” he continued, indicating that he wanted rid of her but feared losing his farm and house. “Could you please tell me is she entitled to equal share in my property, as I think she is entitled to none of it, he asked.

Haughey instructed his private secretary to write back, urging the man to consult his own legal adviser.

Interestingly, when a Dublin woman wrote seeking help with getting more housekeeping money from her stingy husband, the advice was less formal. “Your best course may be to see if there is any mutual friend who could help in resolving the problem,” was the advice conveyed on Haughey’s behalf.

Also among the copious correspondence was a letter from a man asking that the song lyrics he enclosed be passed on to Eurovision winner Johnny Logan.

Trevor Hoskins from Bath, England, explained he had no idea how to contact the singer directly.

X Factor judge and pop promoter Louis Walsh would have been taken aback by the next comment. “I have read that his new agents are Tony Hayden and Louis Walsh which does not mean really anything.”

Seán Aylward, Haughey’s private secretary left written instructions for another staff member, telling her to ring RTÉ and get the address of Johnny Logan’s record company. “Don’t identify this office as source of inquiry,” he instructed — underlining it for emphasis. “Say you’re a fan. Then draft a letter to our songster correspondent returning his lyrics and giving the record company’s address.”