Haughey, Padraig Columb ('Jock') (1932–2003), sportsman and would-be arms smuggler, was born in Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath, on 9 October 1932, third of four sons (there were also three daughters) of Sean 'Johnnie' Haughey, farmer and former commandant in the Free State army, and his wife Sarah (née McWilliams), both from Swatragh, Co. Londonderry. His brother Charles Joseph Haughey (1925–2006) was Fianna Fáil leader (1979–92) and taoiseach (1979–81, 1982, and 1987–92). After their attempt to farm in Dunshaughlin proved unsuccessful, the Haugheys settled in Donnycarney on the north side of Dublin city in 1933. Jock attended St Joseph's Christian Brothers' School, Fairview, subsequently trained as a draughtsman, and made his career as a surveyor.
He was a lifelong sportsman and member of St Vincent's GAA club, representing Dublin at inter-county level in both hurling and football. Although he turned down offers to play soccer from two League of Ireland clubs, Shelbourne and Drumcondra, Jock played soccer at junior level with Home Farm, playing in their FAI Cup-winning team in 1955; he eventually gave up soccer when threatened with expulsion from the GAA under Rule 27 (prohibiting the playing of foreign games). He was stated by an obituarist, however, to have once played cricket, on holiday near Swatragh when invited to make up the numbers on a local RUC team.
Jock's inter-county hurling career was undistinguished, though he took pride in having marked Christy Ring (qv) in club matches between St Vincent's and Glen Rovers of Cork. In Gaelic football, however, he won National League medals in 1955 and 1958, and in 1958 was a member of the Dublin team that won the county's first All-Ireland senior championship since 1942. His tenacity in overcoming a serious knee injury in 1956 to resume his playing career was widely admired. It has been suggested that Jock's prominence as a GAA player contributed to his brother's election to the dáil in the 1957 general election after two unsuccessful attempts, and he was active in Charles Haughey's later election campaigns; the brothers were personally close. In later life, Jock was a member of Royal Dublin golf club, with a handicap of three.
In 1969 Jock became involved in relief work for nationalists in Northern Ireland who had been driven from their homes by rioting and political violence; it is alleged that he also met IRA leaders in Dublin. On 17–18 August 1969 he flew to London with a number of northside Dublin associates to meet with Irish businessmen and organisations who might be persuaded to assist in the relief efforts. On 22 August he returned to London, where he met Cathal Goulding (qv), chief of staff of the IRA, and allegedly gave him £1,500 for arms with the understanding that more would be supplied.
According to subsequent statements by a garda witness before the dáil public accounts committee in 1970–71, and by the IRA activist and arms trial defendant John Kelly (qv) to the journalist John Boyne, Jock arranged for four cases of handguns to be brought in through Dublin airport in October 1969 and handed over to the Goulding faction of the IRA. It is widely assumed that in these activities he acted with the knowledge or at the instigation of his brother Charles, then minister for finance, although this has never been proven and Jock subsequently refused to discuss his actions.
After the shooting of Garda Richard Fallon by members of the republican splinter group Saor Éire on 3 April 1970 it was believed by the Gardaí (and by Peter Berry (qv)) that the murder weapon came from this consignment, though it appears that this was not correct. The belief arose from Jock's use of a Saor Éire activist (introduced to him by a Fianna Fáil party member from the northside of Dublin) to establish contact with a London-based arms dealer. In November 1969, Jock returned to London with John Kelly to meet a supposed arms dealer with the aim of securing weapons for Northern nationalists. The meeting was aborted when Kelly realised they were under surveillance, and he subsequently came to believe that the whole deal was a set-up by British intelligence. Jock does not appear to have played any further direct role in the attempts to import arms, as these were taken over by more experienced plotters.
In December 1970, after the acquittal of the arms trial defendants (who included Jock's brother Charles, by then dismissed from his ministerial portfolio), the dáil public accounts committee began enquiries into the misuse of official money raised for Northern relief. After Chief Superintendent Fleming of the Garda special branch submitted an affidavit to the committee based on 'confidential sources' outlining Jock's role as intermediary, Jock was summoned to testify before the committee. He issued a blanket denial of the allegations made against him (which included the claim that he was the 'George Dixon' authorised to withdraw funds from the account containing money voted for Northern aid), but refused to testify. Jock was then sentenced to six months' imprisonment for contempt of the committee, but appealed to the courts on the grounds that the legislation authorising the committee's demand was unconstitutional. The supreme court ruled (In re Haughey [1971] I. R. 217) that the constitutional right to a fair hearing meant that Jock was entitled to be supplied with a copy of the evidence impugning him, to test it by cross-examination, and to address the committee in his own defence (rulings that implied a right to legal representation), and that the committee had no power to compel him to give evidence. No attempt was ever made to prosecute Jock in the ordinary courts, possibly for fear of exposing the 'confidential sources' (suspected to be high-ranking informers within the IRA).
In re Haughey was Jock Haughey's most significant historical legacy, and caused controversy for many years. Its immediate effect was to destroy the ability of the committee to investigate the 'money trail' in relation to the expenditure of Northern relief funds (although the committee persevered and delivered a report in July 1972). It also significantly limited the ability of public bodies generally to conduct inquiries, though this was partly offset in 1997 and 1999 when legislation was passed allowing committees to compel witnesses to testify. In 2002, however, the supreme court ruled (in Maguire v. Ardagh [2002] 1 I. R. 385, known as the Abbeylara judgment), that the oireachtas had no power to conduct inquiries affecting the reputation of individual citizens, as this was a judicial function reserved for the courts or for judicial tribunals. (This ruling did not affect judicial tribunals established by the oireachtas, but the proceedings of such tribunals were slower and more complex than those of oireachtas committees.)
The role of tribunals in uncovering corruption and conflicts of interest in the 1990s and 2000s led some commentators to argue that In re Haughey seriously damaged the interests of justice; others argued that it was inherently unacceptable for oireachtas committees (which by their nature are party-political) to take on a judicial function, given the possibility that inquiries might be staged selectively for party-political ends. In October 2011 a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the oireachtas both to conduct enquiries affecting the reputation of individuals, and to determine the balance between the rights of individuals and the gravity of the matters under investigation (the latter being seen as virtually overturning the procedural protection provided by In re Haughey) was defeated in a referendum because of concerns about its possible misuse.
Jock Haughey remained closely associated with his brother, and was frequently to be seen in Charles Haughey's entourage. The journalist Bruce Arnold, a persistent critic of Charles Haughey, claimed that after a Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting on 9 February 1983 in which a vote of no confidence in Haughey's leadership was put forward (partly inspired by the disclosure that Haughey's former justice minister, Sean Doherty (qv), had ordered the tapping of Arnold's phone), Jock attempted to attack him and had to be held back by two garda drivers. During the 1983 Fianna Fáil ard-fheis, held after the defeat of another motion of no confidence in Charles Haughey's leadership, Haughey stated in his leader's address that forces outside the party had orchestrated the attempts to remove him; Jock yelled from the gallery 'Name the bastards', an intervention warmly received by the party faithful. (It should be noted that it was widely though falsely rumoured within Fianna Fáil that Arnold was connected to the British intelligence services, and hence that Doherty's surveillance of him had been justified.)
In the 1980s Jock was fined on several occasions for drink-driving offences. In March 1990 he escaped conviction for refusing to give blood and urine samples when requested; the doctor involved was unable to attend court owing to illness, and Jock's counsel successfully argued that without the doctor's own testimony there was no conclusive evidence that he had been a registered medical practitioner – and hence qualified to take samples – on the day in question. As a result of this case, the oireachtas passed legislation to make computerised records showing a doctor's status admissible in court for this purpose.
Padraig 'Jock' Haughey died on 10 October 2003 in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. He and his wife Catherine had one son and one daughter. To judge by the tributes uttered at his death, Jock was a genial and convivial sportsman with many friends, but he was out of his depth in politics.