Candidate Derek Nally's recollections with Pat Kenny on RTE on Wednesday on some of our darker periods were peppered with references to people and places that seem from another age. He mentioned Sergeant Tom Tully, now farming "somewhere near Roosky", who had stood up to Justice Minister Sean Doherty in 1982 - to the consternation of some very senior garda officers.
Nally's reminiscences coincide with the publication of a new, updated edition of the book that told it all, The Boss by Joe Joyce and Peter Murtagh (Poolbeg, £7.99). A highly complimentary foreword by John Bowman is followed by an 8,000-word introduction bringing the story up to date - from 1983 to the end of the McCracken tribunal. Joyce and Murtagh even tell us what went on behind the scenes at Dublin Castle before Charlie Haughey made that memorable exit. The former taoiseach and his team were gathered in room C303, known as Charlie's room since it was assigned to him during our 1990 EU Presidency.
He thought things hadn't gone too bad but wondered how he should leave. He gazed out the window at the couple of hundred people in the upper courtyard. "We can't let the supporters down" he said and emerged with a smile and wave. He was met with "hisses and boos and shouts of `liar' and `lock him up' ".
Those around when The Boss first came out in 1983 will recall how the authors petitioned the Revenue for tax exemption on their earnings on the grounds that the taoiseach of the day, CJH, had described it as a work of fiction, a genre of writing exempt from tax. They were told where to get off.