Charles Haughey

Uncommon card · No. 118919

Charles James Haughey (16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach three times between 1979 and 1992, when he was leader of Fianna Fáil. Over a forty-year career, Haughey was the most complex and divisive figure in late 20th-century Ireland. After his retirement, the disclosure of millions of pounds in secret payments from businessmen damaged his reputation. From a working-class Dublin family with roots in Ulster, Haughey entered politics in the 1950s. He was first appointed to the cabinet by his father-in-law, Seán Lemass. A dynamic and reforming figure, he was made Minister for Finance by Jack Lynch in 1966. During the Arms Crisis in 1970, he was sacked from the government when it emerged that he had purchased weapons for nationalist groups in Northern Ireland during the early months of The Troubles; he was acquitted of criminal charges. After a period on the backbenches, he returned to the cabinet in 1977 as Minister for Health and Social Welfare...

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