Reaction: If Charles Haughey had been treated like other citizens of this country he would have been jailed for perjury, the former Labour leader Ruairí Quinn said yesterday.
Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, he said that the former taoiseach had destroyed politics in this country, as the revelations at the tribunals had demonstrated. Mr Quinn was responding to the committee chairman, Donie Cassidy, who had opened the meeting with a tribute to Mr Haughey.
"I reluctantly respond to your accolade to the late Mr Haughey. I extend my condolences to his family and to his friends and to his admirers. But I have to put on the record that had he been treated like other citizens he would have been jailed for perjury," said the Labour TD.
"I think he destroyed politics in this country, as the revelations of the tribunals have demonstrated, and, for every accolade that can be put on the credit side, sadly there is a debit side and I would feel remiss if I were to let the credit side of the record stand alone.
"I am saddened by his death for his family and for the friends and people who admired him, but, for all the good things that he did, sadly there was a debit side as well," he said. Mr Quinn told The Irish Times last night that he had felt obliged to make his comments in the light of the committee chairman's long speech extolling Mr Haughey's achievements.
"We met at 9.30am to listen to the observations of the National Roads Authority and the Health and Safety Authority about the issue of road safety, which is a big concern of the committee.
"Before the meeting Donie Cassidy said he would like to make some remarks about the late Mr Haughey. He asked if I wanted to speak, but I indicated that I would not be making a contribution.
"He then started into a long eulogy about Mr Haughey which went on and on. Phil Hogan of Fine Gael then spoke in measured tones and I signalled that I wanted to speak, lest my silence be taken as acquiescence or agreement with the chairman."
He added that while he had great sympathy for the Haughey family, the rewriting of history by Fianna Fáil in recent days could not go unchallenged.
"Charles Haughey corrupted democracy as we know from the evidence of the tribunals and that has to be said. There is also a lot of nonsense being spoken about his economic record. With Jack Lynch he came to power in 1977 on the basis of the disastrous manifesto and when he became taoiseach he presided over a fraudulent budget.
"By the time Garret FitzGerald and John Bruton took office in 1981 the country was on the verge of bankruptcy," said Mr Quinn. He added that social partnership was not invented by Mr Haughey as was being widely said in recent days. "The blueprint came from the National Economic and Social Council and, while Mr Haughey drove it with great commitment, its success was only made possible by what had already been put in place."
