What really happened on the morning of May 6th, 1970, when the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, announced the sacking of Charles J Haughey and Neil Blaney?

How are the current tribunals connected to Haughey and are they changing our political culture? What is behind the mystique of the man who dominated Irish politics for more than two decades?

These were just some of the poignant questions addressed at a conference at University College Cork last weekend, "Government, politics and society in the Haughey years". Speakers from academia, media and politics gathered to dissect the personality, ideology and financial impropriety of Ireland's most notorious Taoiseach. The full list of heavyweight speakers included Fintan O'Toole, Vincent Browne, Matt Cooper, Stephen Collins, Professor Enda McDonagh, Professor Edward Cahill, Ulster Unionist Stephen King and the former Ombudsman, Michael Mills.

A stimulating debate, certainly, and students of history, politics and law will be discussing CJH well into the next millennium.