Madam, - Conor Keelan (July 28th) appears to be bemused by recent criticisms of Charles Haughey's economic record. He wrongly claims that in my letter of July 27th I referred to the national debt between 1979 and 1982 "in an attempt to damage Mr. Haughey's credibility". Had he read my letter more closely, he would have noted that my criticism was aimed at the two Fianna Fáil governments between 1977 and 1981, which had an unparalleled record of fiscal recklessness.
Charles Haughey was not responsible for the Fianna Fáil manifesto of 1977, which committed the party to runaway overspending and extensive tax concessions - with predictable consequences. But he then proceeded to make the situation much worse by ignoring the financial crisis which he himself had correctly identified when he was elected as Taoiseach in 1979. Mr. Haughey's supporters would like to pretend his term as Taoiseach began only in 1987, when he was finally converted to fiscal rectitude.
It may well be true that Haughey's first two terms as Taoiseach are best forgotten. But any attempt to present him as an economic saviour who laid the foundations for the Celtic Tiger requires a deliberate act of political amnesia.
No single politician can claim credit for the Celtic Tiger, nor can it be traced simply to a change of government in 1987. The economic boom was influenced by the successful educational expansion of the previous generation and by Ireland's membership of the European Union, as much as by specific financial policies in the late 1980s. It is reasonable to claim that Fianna Fáil deserves its fair share of the credit for initiating many of these positive developments. But it is baffling that most leading Fianna Fáil representatives, including the Taoiseach in his recent praise of Haughey's economic record, should try to assign the credit to the one Fianna Fáil leader who deserves it least.
The very considerable long-term achievements of Sean Lemass or Donogh O'Malley are brushed aside in a headlong rush to praise the squire of Abbeville. It says a great deal about the current leadership of Fianna Fáil that they appear to identify more with Charles Haughey than with former party figures of undoubted competence and integrity. - Yours, etc,
JOHN WALSH,
Dunshaughlin,
Co Meath.