Sean Haughey: A dignified son

Praise is due to Sean Haughey, son of former taoiseach Charlie Haughey, for his forthright reaction to the RTÉ drama about his controversial father’s behaviour in a political and personal life redolent of corruption, sleaze and betrayal.

Having broken his silence on Twitter by asking if it was “safe to go out again?”, he took to the airwaves on the Liveline programme to tell listeners of how the series had affected both his mother and his siblings.

Is it safe to go out again? #Charlie

— Seán Haughey (@sean_haughey) January 18, 2015

Putting it bluntly, he said they were “horrified”, especially by the prominence given to the affair with Terry Keane. Understandably protective of his mother, he said she had found it to be a difficult experience.

It has to be said he handled a difficult situation extremely well and deserves to be applauded for so doing. His was a praiseworthy addition to a sordid story that will run and run, a saga that has provoked an intense response of varying and, predictably, contradictory hues.

Whatever one may think of Charlie Haughey’s complex and flawed character, his son has handled himself in a dignified manner.