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Charlie Vs Garret: The rivalry that shaped modern Ireland SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2025
'The best book about Irish politics you can read ... O'Malley has produced one of the finest books ever written about modern Irish politics' - William Stephens, Gript
'A rattling good read' - David McCullagh, RTÉ
'A fantastic read' - Hugh Linehan, Irish Times
The two opposing political figures that shaped Irish life in the 1980s and beyond.
In the 1980s, Irish politics was dominated by a fierce rivalry between Charles J. Haughey and Dr Garret FitzGerald, both leaders of their respective parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Between them they each led all Irish governments in that decade; to say their two opposing personalities shaped Irish life during this era is an understatement.
Eoin O'Malley has amassed an extraordinary body of research, including in-depth interviews with dozens of the most consequential public figures of the time, every Taoiseach, cabinet ministers, TDs, civil servants, and advisers.
As political rivals with different approaches to public life and contrasting visions for Ireland, each enshrined in quite different personalities, the choice between Haughey and FitzGerald came to signify a great deal more than party loyalty or policy it felt like a choice between opposing worldviews. And, as O'Malley's work finally makes clear through an accumulation of extraordinary insights, including interviews with Haughey and FitzGerald themselves, it was fed by a deep reservoir of personal insecurity and paranoia. Each was deeply preoccupied - obsessed even - with the strengths, appeal and threats of the other, to the extent that this rivalry itself became one of the decisive factors in Irish life that shaped Ireland well after they had left power.
'The best book about Irish politics you can read ... O'Malley has produced one of the finest books ever written about modern Irish politics' - William Stephens, Gript
'A rattling good read' - David McCullagh, RTÉ
'A fantastic read' - Hugh Linehan, Irish Times
The two opposing political figures that shaped Irish life in the 1980s and beyond.
In the 1980s, Irish politics was dominated by a fierce rivalry between Charles J. Haughey and Dr Garret FitzGerald, both leaders of their respective parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Between them they each led all Irish governments in that decade; to say their two opposing personalities shaped Irish life during this era is an understatement.
Eoin O'Malley has amassed an extraordinary body of research, including in-depth interviews with dozens of the most consequential public figures of the time, every Taoiseach, cabinet ministers, TDs, civil servants, and advisers.
As political rivals with different approaches to public life and contrasting visions for Ireland, each enshrined in quite different personalities, the choice between Haughey and FitzGerald came to signify a great deal more than party loyalty or policy it felt like a choice between opposing worldviews. And, as O'Malley's work finally makes clear through an accumulation of extraordinary insights, including interviews with Haughey and FitzGerald themselves, it was fed by a deep reservoir of personal insecurity and paranoia. Each was deeply preoccupied - obsessed even - with the strengths, appeal and threats of the other, to the extent that this rivalry itself became one of the decisive factors in Irish life that shaped Ireland well after they had left power.
- GenresIrelandNonfiction
418 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 18, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 13, 2026
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/charlie-vs-garret-the-rivalry-that-shaped-modern-ireland-by-eoin-omalley/
This book is by the son of the founder of the Progressive Democrats, Ireland’s liberal party from the 1980s to the 2000s; I knew him (the son, not the father) when we were both young political activists in the 1990s. Eoin is now a lecturer in political science, and not affiliated to any party.
For those of you who don’t remember or weren’t born at the time, the rivalry between Fine Gael leader Garret Fitzgerald and Fianna Fail leader Charles J. Haughey defined Irish politics in the 1980s. My family were definitely Team Garret without apology; my parents knew him as a colleague at University College Dublin in the early 1960s, and were actually introduced to each other by Gemma Hussey, who ended up as a minister in the 1982-87 government which Garret led. There was also the rather important point of him not being a crook.
I had no personal links at all with Charles Haughey, but I recently read Frank Dunlop’s Yes Taoiseach, of which the best bit is the 1979-82 section covering Haughey’s first two terms in office. Like everyone else I read the newspapers, and deplored Haughey’s opportunism, though was impressed by the redemption that he achieved later in his career. I admit I was also annoyed on his behalf every time a British politician or newsreader pronounced his name “Haw-hee”.
We suspected it at the time, but it is now well documented that he was a crook. O’Malley doesn’t go into this, but the evidence is clear. The most sickening example was his outright theft of around Ir£200,000 from funds raised for his colleague and friend Brian Lenihan, who needed a liver transplant in 1989. Over the course of Haughey’s career, he was paid many millions of pounds by private business, mostly but not always Irish, and while it’s difficult to make a direct case that these payments led to specific acts of corruption, none of the money was properly accounted for – and Haughey was a qualified accountant and a qualified lawyer, so he knew exactly what he was doing.
Eoin O’Malley’s book takes the two leaders in parallel – born within five months of each other, Haughey 100 years ago last September, Fitzgerald 100 years ago this very day, studying at University College Dublin at the same time, both with family links to an older political generation (Fitzgerald’s father was a minister in the 1922-1932 government, Haughey’s father-in-law was Sean Lemass, the Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966), both also with family links to Northern Ireland (Fitzgerald’s Ulster Protestant mother, Haughey’s uncle and cousins in Swatragh).
Fitzgerald became leader of Fine Gael in 1977, and Haughey became leader of Fianna Fáil and Taoiseach in 1979; their rivalry lasted until Fitzgerald resigned after losing the 1987 election. Just reading the facts of what happened during those crazy years is fascinating enough, even though I lived through them at the time. The most extraordinary incident was when the perpetrator of a couple of notorious murders in Haughey’s second term was arrested while staying in a flat belonging to his friend who happened to be Haughey’s Attorney-General. That was hardly Haughey’s fault, but it seemed symbolic.
But on the other hand, even we who liked Garret have to admit that he was pretty disastrous in government. He was a catastrophically bad people manager. His ‘constitutional crusade’ to make the Republic more Protestant-friendly by liberalising legislation on social issues crashed and burned. The country’s financial situation got worse and worse. The successful campaign to add a ban on abortion to the constitution saddled the country with a legal and ethical mess that took decades to sort out. (A mutual friend who saw Garret a few weeks before he died reported to me that going along with this was his biggest political regret.)
The one big success was the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, which Margaret Thatcher was somehow charmed into signing. I would love to know the full story behind how this happened. I have seen one account which gives John Hume most of the credit; he is barely mentioned by O’Malley, who puts the UK cabinet secretary Robert Armstrong in the central role. In any case, it regularised the Republic’s relationship with the UK with regard to Northern Ireland, and pushed Unionists (after their initial impotent fury) to realise that a stable long-term solution was going to look more like Sunningdale than the old Stormont. Haughey (a pragmatist, as I said earlier) condemned it bitterly in opposition and operated it smoothly in government.
Haughey won the election in 1987 by running against Fine Gael’s drastic plans for economic reform, which Fitzgerald had typically failed to sell to voters, and then astonished everyone by adopting the Fine Gael programme and implementing it, leaving Fine Gael no option but to support his government. Haughey was a good coalition-builder, and succeeded in getting buy-in from both unions and business. Even more astonishingly, it actually worked, and laid the foundations for the years of economic growth that became characterised as the Celtic Tiger. O’Malley makes the point that while Haughey actually did it, it was Fitzgerald’s plan; they both deserve credit, and the difference between them was more style than policy substance.
Haughey was a crook as previously mentioned, but O’Malley makes a strong case that he was effective and impactful once he finally got to a fairly stable position of government in 1987, and that in a weird sense he owed this success to Fitzgerald.
Though I do wish that O’Malley had spent a bit more time looking at the 1971 Arms Trial (also not really addressed by Frank Dunlop). With the passage of time, almost twenty years after his death, is the balance of analysis that Haughey was actually guilty, or not? And what was the real effect on the ground in Northern Ireland, if any?
The book was flagged up to me by a review from mutual friend (and another former PDer) Jason O’Mahoney, in which he also makes the interesting suggestion that Irish (and other) people should be kinder to their politicians. He has a point.
This book is by the son of the founder of the Progressive Democrats, Ireland’s liberal party from the 1980s to the 2000s; I knew him (the son, not the father) when we were both young political activists in the 1990s. Eoin is now a lecturer in political science, and not affiliated to any party.
For those of you who don’t remember or weren’t born at the time, the rivalry between Fine Gael leader Garret Fitzgerald and Fianna Fail leader Charles J. Haughey defined Irish politics in the 1980s. My family were definitely Team Garret without apology; my parents knew him as a colleague at University College Dublin in the early 1960s, and were actually introduced to each other by Gemma Hussey, who ended up as a minister in the 1982-87 government which Garret led. There was also the rather important point of him not being a crook.
I had no personal links at all with Charles Haughey, but I recently read Frank Dunlop’s Yes Taoiseach, of which the best bit is the 1979-82 section covering Haughey’s first two terms in office. Like everyone else I read the newspapers, and deplored Haughey’s opportunism, though was impressed by the redemption that he achieved later in his career. I admit I was also annoyed on his behalf every time a British politician or newsreader pronounced his name “Haw-hee”.
We suspected it at the time, but it is now well documented that he was a crook. O’Malley doesn’t go into this, but the evidence is clear. The most sickening example was his outright theft of around Ir£200,000 from funds raised for his colleague and friend Brian Lenihan, who needed a liver transplant in 1989. Over the course of Haughey’s career, he was paid many millions of pounds by private business, mostly but not always Irish, and while it’s difficult to make a direct case that these payments led to specific acts of corruption, none of the money was properly accounted for – and Haughey was a qualified accountant and a qualified lawyer, so he knew exactly what he was doing.
Eoin O’Malley’s book takes the two leaders in parallel – born within five months of each other, Haughey 100 years ago last September, Fitzgerald 100 years ago this very day, studying at University College Dublin at the same time, both with family links to an older political generation (Fitzgerald’s father was a minister in the 1922-1932 government, Haughey’s father-in-law was Sean Lemass, the Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966), both also with family links to Northern Ireland (Fitzgerald’s Ulster Protestant mother, Haughey’s uncle and cousins in Swatragh).
Fitzgerald became leader of Fine Gael in 1977, and Haughey became leader of Fianna Fáil and Taoiseach in 1979; their rivalry lasted until Fitzgerald resigned after losing the 1987 election. Just reading the facts of what happened during those crazy years is fascinating enough, even though I lived through them at the time. The most extraordinary incident was when the perpetrator of a couple of notorious murders in Haughey’s second term was arrested while staying in a flat belonging to his friend who happened to be Haughey’s Attorney-General. That was hardly Haughey’s fault, but it seemed symbolic.
But on the other hand, even we who liked Garret have to admit that he was pretty disastrous in government. He was a catastrophically bad people manager. His ‘constitutional crusade’ to make the Republic more Protestant-friendly by liberalising legislation on social issues crashed and burned. The country’s financial situation got worse and worse. The successful campaign to add a ban on abortion to the constitution saddled the country with a legal and ethical mess that took decades to sort out. (A mutual friend who saw Garret a few weeks before he died reported to me that going along with this was his biggest political regret.)
The one big success was the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, which Margaret Thatcher was somehow charmed into signing. I would love to know the full story behind how this happened. I have seen one account which gives John Hume most of the credit; he is barely mentioned by O’Malley, who puts the UK cabinet secretary Robert Armstrong in the central role. In any case, it regularised the Republic’s relationship with the UK with regard to Northern Ireland, and pushed Unionists (after their initial impotent fury) to realise that a stable long-term solution was going to look more like Sunningdale than the old Stormont. Haughey (a pragmatist, as I said earlier) condemned it bitterly in opposition and operated it smoothly in government.
Haughey won the election in 1987 by running against Fine Gael’s drastic plans for economic reform, which Fitzgerald had typically failed to sell to voters, and then astonished everyone by adopting the Fine Gael programme and implementing it, leaving Fine Gael no option but to support his government. Haughey was a good coalition-builder, and succeeded in getting buy-in from both unions and business. Even more astonishingly, it actually worked, and laid the foundations for the years of economic growth that became characterised as the Celtic Tiger. O’Malley makes the point that while Haughey actually did it, it was Fitzgerald’s plan; they both deserve credit, and the difference between them was more style than policy substance.
Haughey was a crook as previously mentioned, but O’Malley makes a strong case that he was effective and impactful once he finally got to a fairly stable position of government in 1987, and that in a weird sense he owed this success to Fitzgerald.
Though I do wish that O’Malley had spent a bit more time looking at the 1971 Arms Trial (also not really addressed by Frank Dunlop). With the passage of time, almost twenty years after his death, is the balance of analysis that Haughey was actually guilty, or not? And what was the real effect on the ground in Northern Ireland, if any?
The book was flagged up to me by a review from mutual friend (and another former PDer) Jason O’Mahoney, in which he also makes the interesting suggestion that Irish (and other) people should be kinder to their politicians. He has a point.
December 13, 2025
A riveting look at two of Ireland's most influential politicians of the 20th century.
O'Malley gives a fascinatingly brutal account of Garret FitzGearld's premiership describing his ironically flawed political pedigree when he achieved power and contrast's it to Haughey's expert precision in decision making and political calculations
The book can feel a little bit biased at times towards Haughey, but one could argue that the bias just an objective account. As Haughey was just more effective at politics than FitzGearld.
O'Malley does a good job of making the distinction between Haughey's personal life and his political life when analyzing his political legacy
O'Malley gives a fascinatingly brutal account of Garret FitzGearld's premiership describing his ironically flawed political pedigree when he achieved power and contrast's it to Haughey's expert precision in decision making and political calculations
The book can feel a little bit biased at times towards Haughey, but one could argue that the bias just an objective account. As Haughey was just more effective at politics than FitzGearld.
O'Malley does a good job of making the distinction between Haughey's personal life and his political life when analyzing his political legacy
March 21, 2026
A must read for those who like politics, especially recent political history.
The book is remarkably fair, and remarkably nuanced. I've looked for evidence of bias and couldn't find any.
In his final summary O Malley attributes Ireland's economic success to various political decisions, including investment in education. This reminds the reader that the author comes from a political dynasty that made a considerable contribution to Ireland.
Bottom line: Haughey was a doer, and Fitzgerald was a thinker and a talker. They were their individual strengths. And also their weaknesses.
The book is remarkably fair, and remarkably nuanced. I've looked for evidence of bias and couldn't find any.
In his final summary O Malley attributes Ireland's economic success to various political decisions, including investment in education. This reminds the reader that the author comes from a political dynasty that made a considerable contribution to Ireland.
Bottom line: Haughey was a doer, and Fitzgerald was a thinker and a talker. They were their individual strengths. And also their weaknesses.
December 2, 2025
Not a lot of new info, but enjoyable read about Charlie Haughey and Garret Fitzgerald
January 7, 2026
Super book, really accessible, especially as someone who didn’t know a whole lot about Haughey or Fitzgerald beforehand.
January 23, 2026
A really great story that I knew nothing about, and a phenomenal last line.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews