Haughey daughter calls support 'overwhelming'

The daughter of the late Charles Haughey spoke yesterday of the "overwhelming support" and letters of condolence received by …

The daughter of the late Charles Haughey spoke yesterday of the "overwhelming support" and letters of condolence received by the family since the death of the former taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader in June.

Following the death of Mr Haughey on June 13th, thousands of letters have been sent to the family home in Kinsealy, Co Dublin, Éimear Mulhern said.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Tom McGurk, Ms Mulhern told of receiving letters from people who had met her father, who had worked on projects with him and those he had done something for.

"It's absolutely unbelievable. I think we are really, really overwhelmed. Even just personally, I have received so many of the most wonderful letters from people that I didn't know ever knew him or had ever met him."

READ MORE

In the days following the State funeral, Ms Mulhern said her mother, Maureen Haughey, had fallen and broken her hip and had since had a hip replacement. Her mother was "doing very well", she said.

Speaking of her father's long illness, Ms Mulhern said he had lived life to the full but this had proven increasingly difficult in his final years. "He had been very, very sick for a very long time but he wasn't going to give up so he fought it right up to two days before he died," she said.

Over the course of the last six weeks, regular visitors to Abbeville have continued to arrive and spend time with the family, Ms Mulhern said. "The house is still alive but there is definitely a big gap in it - that's for sure."

Ms Mulhern, chairwoman of Goffs Bloodstock Sales, defended tax exemptions on stud fees for stallions, introduced by her father, saying the exemption had established Ireland as an international player in horse breeding.