Haughey praised for getting projects finished
Brian Hayes, the junior finance minister, called attention to the late Fianna Fáil leader’s ability to finish projects in tough times as he answered questions about the sale of state assets and the construction of the promised children’s hospital.
The Fine Gael minister’s praise surprised some. The Moriarty Tribunal found Mr Haughey took payments worth the equivalent of €11.5m between 1979 and 1996 in return for favours.
The inquiry said the scale and secretive nature of the payments “can only be said to have devalued the quality of a modern democracy”.
On the hospital Mr Hayes said: “The bottom line is that this important national facility will be built in the lifetime of this Government. This shows that even in really difficult times, we can get major national infrastructural projects like this over the line.
“One of the best people to show how this could be done was a former taoiseach, Mr Charlie Haughey, who even in difficult times was able to build important projects for this country.”
He said he believed most of the funds for the hospital would come from the national capital programme.
