Micheál, help us cope with addiction rather than try to ban it

FOR a man who was reportedly awaiting a call from the Grim Reaper about a month ago, Charles J Haughey has reaped a nice profit from the sale of Abbeville which, during his tenure there, stood as a symbol of everything that is rotten in this country.

Apparently, he personally negotiated the contract to sell his grandiose mansion and 230-acre estate for €40m to Manor Park Homebuilders. It has been estimated that the contract, which he signed on Tuesday, will net him a handy €34m after tax (the latter two words being a phrase he would not be too familiar with).

What he would be all too familiar with, though, would be the manipulative and devious schemes which saw him crawl through financial mires, or have others do it for him, to achieve a financial status to match his ego. Along the way, as Taoiseach, he had no compunction to use and abuse the most powerful political office in this country to line his exceptionally deep pockets.