Parasite of humanity

Of course, the comments made by Gerry Gainford and Gordon Davies are correct regarding my last blog on the publication of the Moriarty report. Technically, Haughey is not a criminal and it is a fact that he escaped ‘legal’ justice during his lifetime.

If I can be personal for a moment I will explain where I’m coming from. Since 1979, I have been following Haughey’s career. I was just becoming politically aware at the time and knew nothing about him but I did know that the country was a basket case and needed a strong leader.

I was delighted, therefore, when he gained power that year because I felt that anyone with the balls to make a decision about arming the Nationalists in the North would have the courage to make the tough decisions to take Ireland out of the gutter.

Within a year, I realised that Haughey was just like most other Irish politicians, weak, visionless and self serving. By the mid 80s I knew that he was corrupt and there was little possibility of his being brought to justice because he operated within a system/state that was itself a corrupt entity.

So, for about the last 25 years I have been beating my angry head against a rock trying to convince anyone willing to listen about the truth of Haughey and the corrupt state that facilitated his activities.

Letters to the Editor, phone calls, letters, emails to politicians, interviews on radio and even participation on RTE’s television programme The Big Bite and in recent times, due to the expertise and patience of Gavin, on this blog.

In my opinion Haughey had four ambitions in life – money, power, a craving for respect and a wish to be remembered as a great statesman. As I witnessed his career I became ever more frustrated as he achieved money, power and a good degree of (misplaced) respect.

In the last years of his life Haughey worked hard on convincing people that he should be remembered as a great statesman. To a degree he was successful in this, even convincing Vincent Browne, one of his strongest critics, that he was, after all, a great man.

The Moriarty report, however, has destroyed any hope that Haughey will be remembered for anything other than for what he really was – a man who betrayed his family, his friends, his party and most particularly, his country.

With Haughey dead and a strong campaign led by our present Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, to create a false history of the most corrupt politician in Irish history it could have been different story.

If the Moriarty report had not been so damning it is likely that Haughey would have achieved his last ambition. It is in reference to this failure that I speak of justice being done.

By far the most damning conclusion in the report is how Haughey treated Brian Lenihan. There are few actions of Man that attract such abhorrence and odium as someone who is prepared to steal money from a dying man.

Haughey is such an individual and I am greatly relieved that the world now knows the truth about this parasite of humanity.