Haughey-style secrecy of some ministers raises serious questions

SHORTLY before he died, according to his son Seán, Charlie Haughey said: “I never broke my word in politics.”

As an historian, I usually recoil from such claims because they can be refuted with just one example. Everybody lies at some point in their lives. There is almost a sense about this of a child with the chocolate on his hands and face protesting that he did not eat any of the chocolate cake.

There were things about Charlie Haughey to admire. Once I was interviewed on air by Gerry Ryan about my book, Haughey’s 40 Years of Controversy.