Madam, - In an interview with a British newspaper back in the 1980s, just after he had taken power again after the 1987 General Election, the then Taoiseach, Charles J. Haughey, said: "Ireland is where strange tales begin".
Now, with the man's passing, how strange indeed those times do appear at this remove - and the tale of his own life and times is arguably the strangest tale of all.
The idea of presenting the life of a public figure, in the immediate aftermath of his death, as some type of balance sheet seems rather cold, calculating and impersonal; yet, in Haughey's case in particular, it seems unavoidable. Despite his personal weaknesses, his bequest to the country is far greater than that of any of his contemporaries: the refurbishing of Government Buildings and other public edifices; a genuine love of the arts and heritage which resulted in the highly innovative tax exemption scheme for artists in 1969 and the formation of Aosdána under his leadership. He was particularly prolific and hard-working in any ministerial portfolio he held before becoming leader. The 1965 Succession Act was a genuinely groundbreaking piece of legislation, especially in the area of women's rights, and he did more for the underdog and those on social welfare during his ministership from 1977 to 1979 than many of his so-called "socialists" in the Labour Party ever did.
While his leadership of the Governments of 1979-1981 and 1982 were beset by divisive internecine infighting and a "banjaxed" economy (as Gay Byrne then referred to it) as a result of Jack Lynch's shortsighted giveaway election of 1977, and by the reluctance of a significant number of his compatriots to accept his leadership, he did put in place economic reforms between 1987 and 1992 which created the type of economic base that encouraged inward investment.
He pursued behind-the-scenes initiatives to bring about progress in strife-ridden Northern Ireland; Albert Reynolds followed up on these and and gained the kudos.
To state the oft-repeated obvious, his personal flaws were his ruthless acquisitiveness and - hugely contradictorily for a nationalist - the seemingly innate desire for the trappings of the lifestyle of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy; but ultimately these should not overshadow his many achievements. He paid, arguably, the ultimate price for his tax avoidance in the sense that his retirement, which should have been a period of relaxed contentment, was beset by the seemingly interminable Moriarty tribunal inquries into his labyrinthine financial affairs. Yet, to put this tax avoidance in some kind of perspective, the sums he denied the State coffers are a drop in the ocean compared with the public monies squandered by certain Ministers in this current administration whose political achievements are in the halfpenny place to Haughey's.
His theme tune was said to be Seán Ó Riada's Mise Eire, but perhaps Frank Sinatra (another diminutive but hugely capable man,who inspired both fear and awe and surrounded himself with a loyal coterie of followers) and the words and sentiments of his signature song My Way provide the perfect epitaph: "Regrets: I've had a few, but then again too few to mention. I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption. And through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spat it out. The record shows I took the blows and did it my way."
Noble and venal in equal measure, industrious and corrupt, intelligent and complex, flawed as us all, perhaps more so, mysterious and enigmatic, living a life in full measure, he will truly never be equalled. - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6W.
Madam, - When reviewing the legacy of the late Charles Haughey, readers may be interested in the evaluation given in this newspaper, just a month before his own death, by my father Owen in May 1970, in reaction to the sacking from the Cabinet by Jack Lynch of Neil Blaney and Charles Haughey and the resignations of Micheál Ó Moráin and Kevin Boland following allegations of gunrunning.
Under the heading "They'll none of them be missed", he said: "Intellectually, Mr Charles Haughey is the ablest of the four. His aesthetic sense is perceptibly greater than that of Mr Boland; the competition is not intense. He has an arrogance which beats the band and he can be every bit as intellectually dishonest as Mr Boland; and there the competition is intense.
"He can be very charming, it is true, to those who flatter him; but a deep inner insecurity gives him a low temper-flashpoint, which renders him often petulant and sometimes absurd. His childish and churlish refusal even to receive the farmers, and his decision to let them remain for weeks in the gutter, marked him as the small-minded man that essentially he is.
"Mammon is an old business friend of his and an active supporter. . .In the past few weeks I have sometimes been asked which of the many Ministers who appear before us in the Senate I would think least worthy of public confidence and esteem. These are the four names I have always mentioned first; and in arriving at this opinion, I have always seen a clear gap between these four and their Ministerial colleagues, not one of whom has their Messianic "infallibility", their inflexibility, their arrogance, their ruthless pursuit of personal ambition, and their refusal to entertain even the possibility that they might ever be wrong."
Interesting to compare against the reality which unfolded over the following 22 years. - Yours etc,
ALAN SHEEHY-SKEFFINGTON, Dublin 4.
Madam, - What a small-minded, backbiting piece by Fintan O'Toole (The Irish Times, June 14th) on Charles Haughey, even as he was waked!
What fluency in writing, what shallowness in thought! - Yours, etc,
LIAM P. Ó MURCHÚ, Bóthar an Tóchair, Corcaigh.
A chara, - Congratulations to Fintan O'Toole for a masterful assessment of Haughey the man and his legacy. - Yours, etc,
LARRY GORDON, Cedarmount Road, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin.
Madam, - The passing of Mr Haughey was one of those occasions when one just has to buy The Irish Times: a field day for your esteemed journalists to show their considerable talents. One recalls all the many occasions when that photogenic face graced your pages, all the acres of newsprint that have been expended on account of its owner.
Might I venture to suggest that some small acknowledgement of his value to the media is called for? Would it not be appropriate for your paper to take the lead in making some little donation to his estate, as a gesture of appreciation? - Yours, etc,
JOE ASTON, Sherkin Island, Co Cork.
Madam, - CJH: Quite simply the single most pernicious influence on Irish politics since the foundation of the State.- Yours, etc,
VINCENT MAC CARTHY, Cloncat, Fordstown, Co Meath.
Madam, - As your edition of June 14th noted, writers have reason to thank Charles Haughey. But so do book buyers. As Taoiseach in the early 1980s he inspired the zero rating of books for VAT.
This simple gesture benefited Irish publishing, Irish book readers and, as he no doubt realised, every family in the country with school-going children. - Yours, etc,
TONY FARMAR, President, Clé, The Irish Book Publishers' Association, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Madam, - So Ireland is again to make itself look ridiculous in front of the world by giving a state funeral to a disgraced former politician.
Whatever the demands of protocol, which may suggest that such a tribute is required, it might have been tactful to opt for a private service. - Yours, etc,
IAN KAVANAGH, Suir Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8.
Madam, - He did the State some service; the State does him some service. - Yours, etc,
CIARAN O'REILLY, Windsor Park, Belfast 9.