The many good things that Mr Charles Haughey did or sponsored should not and will not be forgotten, Dr Martin Mansergh, an adviser to the former Taoiseach for many years, has said.
Dr Mansergh, who is special adviser to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and who edited a book of Mr Haughey's speeches, The Spirit of the Nation, said this should happen no matter how far Mr Haughey had fallen from grace for conduct that no one could defend. He was speaking at the Merriman Summer School.
At Mr Haughey's invitation, Dr Mansergh joined the Department of the Taoiseach in December 1980. In 1981 he became head of research for Fianna Fail and in 1982 he was back in the Department of the Taoiseach. ail period in opposition He returned in 1987 as adviser to Mr Haughey and he helped Mr Reynolds as Taoiseach to develop and maintain contact with Sinn Fein through intermediaries.
Dr Mansergh said he believed that history would go a considerable distance with Mr Haughey's admirers and his critics. He went on: "In one view, he was at his best a political leader of great capability and vision, who inspired and served many. The other view is totally dominated by the deep flaws and many close brushes with disaster which now finally seem to have overtaken him.
"In that contrast, and, of course, no exact parallels can be drawn, he may have something in common with a number of other controversial European leaders of stature among his contemporaries. Everyone, not just the Government or Fianna Fail, will have difficulty confronting the necessary task of disentangling strands of the legacy that have been deeply woven into the fabric of Irish life, the positive to be kept from the negative that must be discarded."