Charles Haughey

[SyntaxHeir]

Would either of our resident Irishmen care to give a "man on the street" opinion about the late Taoiseach? I am familiar with the controversy and the "official position" of the goverment but what do you think?

[Kitz E Kat]

That's a very difficult question to answer, such was Haughy.
A lovable rouge would be an oft heard saying about him.

I could write page's about this, but in a few short words....

In politics Haughy did a lot of good and bad. He very nearly bankrupted the country with "giveaway" budgets trying to win votes in governmental elections.
It cost us dearly , spent a long time paying back for all that free shit !

With nowhere else to go, he did start a program to bring the country back from the brink of bankrupcy ( we were very nearly officially bankrupt).

This was introduced with a now famous speech he made telling the country that "we as a country are living beyond our means and would have to tighten our belts" , this came back to haunt him !

The cutback's did work, he is by many credited with the start of the prosperity we now have, he did introduce many inovative ideas to create capitol and employment.

In addition, he is adored by elderly citizens, he gave them a hefty pension increase, introduced free travel, heating and electricity allowance, you will not find one elderly citizen that don't like Haughy !
He indroduced a tax free system for artists, which was a boon for struggling artists, and many other really good policies.

Never far from controversy he was ousted from politics after a phone tapping incident !

Then one day a rich Irish business man got busted in the US with a prostitute and a load of cocaine, lead to a fall out with his family, an investigation into his finance's and in all this the name Haughy came out as having got a sizeable amount of money from this business man....
We always did wonder why Haughy, on a pretty good wage but not a king's ransom had a mansion , an island, and lived the life of a millionaire.
Nobody could ever figure that out !!

Now we knew, he was taking backhanders, lot's of em, like million's....

But still to this day, while it's been proven that he got these backhanders, no one has been able to prove that he actually did anything for this money, there is no evidence that he did any "favour's " or such to anyone.
He was such a charismatic figure, that I would actually believe that people did give him money, just to be able to associate with him.
It's likely he did do something in return for the money, perhaps one day we will find out what .

Back to the famous speech " we are living beyond our means, we must tighten our belts" , we did, he took backhanders!
We struggled in shit, he was flying over to France to purchase fitted shirts, we took major cutback's in healthcare etc, he bought an island!

So what do I think ? Well it's tradtional not to speak ill of the dead here, but there are exception's! Haughy could be one......

Me I don't know, he did good , he did bad, like most of us really !
He did do it with style :-)

[Kitz E Kat]

Also , if you subscribe to the Karen Coleman show http://www.newstalk106.ie/podcasting.html .
Her radio show on Sunday ( 18th June) morning had a good section on Haughy.
It's a good show to d/l anyway, she is a very good reporter and cover lot's of international stuff as well as Irish interest .

[TreeFrog]

~Not got much time to go into it all.. The guy was a true Irish Cowboy. He loved the current leader for his cunning ways. He was charming and about as devious as a buisness man can be. He arrived on the sceen at a time when things were very fresh and in many ways new.. Remember this country is very young in an independant govenment sence. Not much really went on here untill the 1950s and 60s. Much of the country was listed as third world up till then, but so were other parts of Europe.

Anyway he had his wits about him and took the whole country on a good old walk about making money on the way. Some say for the best some say not.. Many call him a crook and a thief.
All say there has not been another like him since the days of rebelion.

He lived in a simple mansion north of Dublin. I was there working on his sons PC 2 weeks ago. Nice place.. loads of drawings of famous Irish singers..

just 2 cents

[SyntaxHeir]

Thanks to the both of you for taking the time to relate your opinions. Much appreciated!

[Kitz E Kat]

He lived in a simple mansion north of Dublin.

just 2 cents
Is that not a contradiction in itself ? Simple and mansion ????

It was a James Gandon designed mansion, worth zillions :-)
And all paid for by backhanders!

I guess if you want to asses your popularity count the numbers who attend your funeral! There was an expectation of about 25 thousand people to attend, less than 1 thousand turned up. The church had an empty look about it , journalists were asked to sit in the church to fill it up a bit .....

[SyntaxHeir]

Only one thousand people showed up? I guess that says something about public opinion doesn't it?

[Kitz E Kat]

Only one thousand people showed up? I guess that says something about public opinion doesn't it?
Says it all really !
Pretty sad ending, perhaps he enjoyed a lavish life, but it was not of his own making , and who respects that ?
Id have more respect for the man who lives in a shack that he made using his own ingenuity, than the man in the mansion that was given to him by the toil of others.

We leave this world with nothing , but self respect, if you ain't got that you never had nothing.........

[GrowMoreWeed]

We leave this world with nothing , but self respect, if you ain't got that you never had nothing.........
Poignant phrase Kitz but your double negative means well all leave with something! :p

[TreeFrog]

You go out with exactly what you came in with.. the only difference is what you leave behind. For the most part for most of us that means a lot of sewage..
:orccrazy: