They bade Charles J.Haughey farewell with quotes from Hamlet: 'good night sweet and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. It must have been galling to listen to such royalist raillery republican parliament.
Haughey's dubious reputation as a republican rested on two events. In 1969 he was sacked from the Cabinet by Jack to in or traito pine to import arms, said to been for the IRA.
In 1979 he ousted Lynch with thesupport ofSile de Valera and a number of TDs from the West who were more sympathetic to republican Republican rhetoric for Haughey, like Fianna Fail, was never more than a useful tool during the frequent economic crises of the past 13 ycars. Historical settlement Cynics claim, with some justification, that the hate headlines were designed to bolster his position as leader of the chance party and so the best largest For doing a successful deal on the North. He certainly saw himself as being entrusted with a historical mission to bring about a settlement.
After his first talks with Thatcher. shortly after both came to power and to her extreme annoyance, he oversold the outcome to the media. The result was a distinct cooling of Haughey remained silent during the Hunger Strikes. In June untion, party due to the elec tion of two H Block candidates. In 1982 he won back some opular support by refusing to sack the Malvinas War.
He was out of power during the process which led up to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 and threatened to repudiate it. he implemented it faithfully But what brought Haughey down had little to do with his polks or with the stream of corruption scandals which constantly assailed him. His undoing was a combination of the economic crisis of the 26 County state and the suspicion of him from the Free State's ruling class.
Fianna Fail's dominance Free State politics since 1932 relies more on clientelism than ideology. Parish pump politics' La job or a grant eften depends on how vou vote, This worked reasonably well during times of prosperity but support ebbed during recession, in spite of the occasional boost 'mainlining' from Brussels.
No majority Haughey never won majority in the five elections he fought between 1979 and 1992. To maintain his base he needed to bang the republican drum, but given his reputation, the ruling class feared that sections of his base would take him at his word and take an openly antiBritish line.
The combination republican rhetoric with economic crisis could become a dangerously potent brew and so he was constantly denounced for his 'flawed pedigree.
But why now, you may well ask. After all, the period of worst danger to the Southern ruling class was when the rise of State's runaway debt crisis.
They panicked and there followed the New Ireland Forum and the Anglo Irish Agreement - both designed to stem the rise of a radical political alternative.
The threat from the left has receded, at least in the short term. But the economic crisis Charles Haughey, symbol of corrupt irish politicians Despiteall the monctarist slashin% mat ocuru during th 1980s the economy is in a spiral With emigration slowing down, unemployment is above 20 per cent and the total number at work is contracans - inspire of low inflation and rapid growth of GDP.
Abstainer
Haughey's successor, Albert Reynolds, the first Taoiseach born west of the Shannon, is a typical member of Fianna Fail. A loal allainer, he made his money from running dance halls in the 1950 and 60 and then started a pet food business in Longford.
He appears to be without strong political beliefs and, in the charisma stakes, about the same relation to Haughey as John Major does to Margaret Thatcher.
Despite the show of unity by Fianna Fail behind Reynolds, the political problems facing the Dublin ruling class will not go away. Haughey was a populist wheeler-dealer, caught once too often helping his friends. They need someone more exciting than the cautious Reynolds to try to stem the loss of Fianna Fail support to the left.
Support for both the main parties, Fianna Fail and Finc Gael, is falling to the benefit of "left' parties such as Labour, the stalinist and now divided Workers Party and a variety of independents and Greens.
Europe
A significant part of the Southern ruling class has given up the idea of independent statehood. They see European union as the solution to their and political problems. They want to change articles One and Two of the Free State constitution which define the national territory as being the whole island.
To carry a referendum they need to be sure that Fianna Fail will not oppose the change. By replacing the adventurist Haughey with Albert Reynolds they have moved a step closer to that goal. But they may have, at the same time, hacked away which held the state together And so the 'Boss' must away Kerry, there to end his days in zunt contemplaton oritsded ate beauty. Like St Brendan, after journeying to the New before that fella did in 1492
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