University of Galway History Research Seminar: Writing Haughey: Ethics and Dilemmas in Political Biography

University of Galway History Research Seminar 

Writing Haughey: Ethics and Dilemmas in Political Biography

Professor Gary Murphy (Dublin City University)

Abstract
On his death in June 2006, Charles Haughey was little mourned. Beyond his circle of family and close friends his death was met largely with indifference by the Irish public. Yet during his political life Haughey rarely engendered public indifference. Instead, he inspired feelings of devotion and hatred amongst his followers and enemies. The roots of his success and failure in politics – his charisma, his intelligence, his ruthlessness, his secrecy – rendered almost impossible any objective evaluation of his life and work. In late 2021 Gary Murphy published a widely acclaimed, if at times criticised, biography, of Haughey. Based on exclusive access to the Haughey archives, held at Dublin City University, and interviews with over a hundred of Haughey’s contemporaries, it offered a major reassessment of one of Ireland’s most significant and controversial politicians. Containing new information on almost every aspect of Haughey’s life, the book provided an encompassing view of a man of prodigious gifts and fatal flaws. In this paper Gary Murphy explores and reassess Haughey’s role at heart of Irish political life for over three and a half decades, his legacy in the intervening years, and examines the difficulties and opportunities of writing authorised biography.

Speaker Biography
Gary Murphy is Professor of Politics in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. He has held visiting professorships at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the University of Notre Dame. He has published extensively on modern Irish politics and regularly appears in the print and broadcast media. Among his books are: In Search of the Promised Land; The Politics of Post War Ireland, Electoral Competition in Ireland since 1987: The Politics of Triumph and Despair, and most recently Haughey, the best-selling biography of the former Fianna Fáil leader, and Taoiseach, Charles J. Haughey.

Registration

The next University of Galway History Research Seminar will take place at 4.00pm on Wednesday, 11 October 2022. This is a hybrid event: the seminar will take place, in-person, in Room G010, Hardiman Research Building, University of Galway (ground floor). For those of you not able to attend in person, the talk will also be streamed on Zoom: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/j/92355128199.

To attend via Zoom, please register at: https://forms.office.com/e/8gnVmsVNzZ.

This talk is part of the University of Galway History Seminar series and organised jointly with the Centre for the Study of Religion at the Moore Institute.

All are welcome!