CELTIC MIST, the yacht sailed by the late Charles J Haughey, has been offered as a gift to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group for its research in Irish waters.
The 52ft motor sailor ketch has been on sale for €175,000 in the Isle of Wight in southern England since last year. The late taoiseach’s son Conor Haughey has confirmed that the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) had been invited to take it over.
“The market for yachts isn’t great at the moment, and my father did declare Irish waters as a whale and dolphin sanctuary in 1991,” Mr Haughey said. The details were still subject to negotiation, he added.
Dr Simon Berrow of the IWDG said he had consulted the group’s membership and there was overwhelming support for the concept. He is investigating sponsorship which could support the vessel for research and conservation work, and it will also have to be surveyed.
It is estimated that it could cost about €20,000 annually to maintain.
The vessel could be used to provide sea experience and research opportunities for IWDG members, including offshore surveys. The steel yacht, which has four cabins and six berths, could also be used to promote marine conservation and awareness of the abundant marine life around the coast of Ireland both here and abroad, Dr Berrow said.
The IWDG has been active since 1990, and a representative, Conor Ryan of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, has just been assigned to an international research expedition for the group to take biopsy samples from humpback whales around the Cape Verde islands.
The Celtic Mistwas purchased by Mr Haughey after his previous yacht ran up on rocks off Mizen Head, west Cork. It spent much time in Dingle, Co Kerry, and on Mr Haughey's Blasket island of Inishvickillane, nine miles off the Kerry coast.
During the Moriarty tribunal proceedings in 1990s, it emerged that businessman Dermot Desmond paid some €75,000 for refurbishment of the Celtic Mist.
The total sum exceeded Mr Haughey’s then salary as taoiseach, and the tribunal did not accept Mr Desmond’s evidence that the payments were loans.
Collections of papers and photographs documenting the relationship between Mr Haughey and Inishvickillane are on display at the Ionad an Bhlascaoid, the Office of Public Works Blasket Island centre in Dún Chaoin, Co Kerry, from this week. The papers were handed over by the family last October.