Maureen Haughey was steeped in Irish political heritage, but wore it lightly
The daughter of Sean Lemass and the wife of Charles Haughey shunned the limelight, writes Liam Collins
AS the daughter of one Taoiseach and the wife of another, Maureen Haughey held a unique position in Irish political life.
But it was one that she held lightly; she avoided the limelight, largely shunned publicity and seemed content with her role in life as wife to her sometimes notorious husband, Charles J Haughey, and mother to his children.
One of four children of Sean Lemass, she grew up in a large rambling house on Palmerston Road in Rathmines, Dublin. Born in 1925, she was the eldest of the family and outlived her siblings, Peggy, Noel and Sheila. She knew both Charlie Haughey and his nemesis Garret FitzGerald during her time at University College Dublin.
“She had no airs and graces and was warm and intelligent,” said a long-time family friend, Des Peelo. “She was a very private individual and entirely without malice.”
Growing up the daughter of one of the leading lights in Fianna Fail, her family was “steeped in Republicanism” and she was naturally attracted to the ambitious young Haughey who was becoming a player in the political party in which her father played such a pivotal role.
They were married on September 18, 1951. At the time, Sean Lemass was Tanaiste in the government of Eamon de Valera and wouldn’t assume the leadership of Fianna Fail for another eight years.
In the meantime, her husband, a young accountant with the firm Haughey Boland, was pursuing his own political career, without any degree of early success. He lost his deposit in the 1954 General Election and after being co-opted to Dublin Corporation, was defeated at the local elections in 1955. He was also defeated as a candidate in 1956 before being elected to the Dail on March 5, 1957.
By 1969, having just been re-appointed Minister for Finance by Jack Lynch, Charlie, Maureen and their four children, Eimear, Conor, Ciaran and Sean, moved from Grangemore in Raheny, Dublin to the rambling Abbeville mansion in Kinsealy, near Malahide, which was to play such an important part in their lives.
In the years that followed, Charlie and Maureen would entertain Heads of State such as Francois Mitterrand of France, Australian premier Bob Hawke and Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney in their home, as well as a host of national and international celebrities.
But aside from such occasions, Maureen Haughey was known locally as someone who drove into the nearby village of Malahide to buy the newspapers, like any normal housewife, who dined with her husband and their friends Pat and Joan O’Connor at their local restaurant or entertained their neighbours, the Collens on a Saturday night.
All four of their children got married in the grounds of the mansion and when her husband Charlie was elected leader of Fianna Fail in 1979, a huge celebration was held in the house.
Otherwise Maureen Haughey got on with the business of running the estate, tending to the horses and breeding dogs.
Much of their social life revolved around Abbeville, which had its own bar. After his famous ‘Saturday mornings’ at which Haughey would entertain artists and architects as well as favoured politicians, Maureen would bring sausages and French bread to fortify guests before their journey home.
The focal point of the house, the dining room, was dominated by a portrait of Maureen’s father, Sean Lemass, but after the children built houses on sites at the periphery of Abbeville, she found living there just a little bit tedious. “The kitchen is downstairs and the dining room upstairs and it does entail a lot of running up and down,” she told Mary Rose Doorly for a book she wrote on Abbeville.
Although Maureen Haughey’s role was portrayed as one of subservience to her husband, he always treated her with great respect.
On one occasion she came into the office with tea and ham sandwiches for this writer and Mr Haughey, and I made the mistake of holding out my cup to her. “It’s okay, Maureen,” he said, and when she left, he said acerbically to me, “she’s not a servant, you know”.
Maureen Haughey began breeding Irish Wolfhounds when the family were living in Grangemore and continued the practice in Abbeville, adding greyhounds and later Labradors to the menagerie. She was involved in the Irish Wolfhound Society and later secretary of the Fingal Harriers, and rode regularly most days. The opera singer Pavarotti bought a horse from her and they kept in touch for many years afterwards.
Although the Haughey family was badly shaken by the revelations of Charlie Haughey and Terry Keane’s long-time affair in 1999, Maureen stood firmly by her husband and also during the turbulent period that followed as well as the revelations of the McCracken and Moriarty Tribunals which investigated his lifestyle and financial affairs.
Their home Abbeville was sold in 2003, but the terms of the sale allowed the Haugheys to continue living there until Charlie Haughey’s death in June, 2006. Maureen Haughey then built herself a modern home on what had once been part of the estate and lived there until her death last Friday at the age of 91.
Her funeral takes place in Malahide, Co Dublin on Tuesday and she will be buried with her husband afterwards in St Fintan’s cemetery, Sutton.
‘She was a very private individual and entirely without malice...’