Madam, - Those of us who recall the decade between 1977 and 1987 and the traumatic events of the time will have had their memories refreshed by the recent TV series on Charles Haughey.
The opportunistic 1977 Fianna Fáil election manifesto which was a disastrous failure, the Haughey takeover of FF in 1979 and Mr Haughey's speech outlining our financial problems were followed by two grossly overspent budgets, liberal wage settlements and civil service recruitment - all, presumably, to build up credit for the next general election.
Mr Haughey's policy in opposition was to imply that if he were in power there would be money for lots of things, so putting a wedge between the coalition partners Fine Gael and Labour. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 to the extent of sending the deputy leader of the Opposition to the US to oppose it. Yet this agreement was the first acknowledgment by Britain that the Republic had a role to play in Northern Ireland.
It was a decade of pure self-interest and at best party interest by FF. The TV series demonstrated this perfectly.
It was a Fine Gael budget that FF was forced to accept when it returned as a minority government in 1987. This may have laid the foundation of the Celtic Tiger - or the foundation had been there in 1977 before it was disturbed by Fianna Fáil self interest. - Yours, etc,
TOM RYAN, Dunmore Road, Waterford.