Private islands, extramarital affairs, and arms shipments are just a few of the many controversies told in DCU Professor Gary Murphy’s book Haughey.
Speaking at the official book launch in All Hallows Campus last week Murphy spoke of his relief in having the book published by Gill Books last December having spent eight years trudging through some 350 boxes of records donated to DCU by the Haughey family.
Murphy referred to the 700 page, quarter of a million word book as “the first full-length, cradle-to-grave biography of the figure who was at the centre of Irish politics for over three decades”.
Murphy referred to the former Taoiseach as “the most polarising figure in Ireland from the mid-1960s, through to the end of his career in 1992, and up to his death in June 2006.”
He thanked DCU for “being at the heart of this book”. “I have benefited greatly from working in DCU for the last twenty five years and have been supported in my endeavours by colleagues”.
Also speaking at the event DCU President Daire Keogh highlighted the book as having “nuanced our understanding of the man himself and our country’s political history”.
A close confidant and friend to Haughey Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was also present at the launch.
The book is available in bookshops nationwide.
Theo Mc Donald
Image Credit: DCU