Updated 11.35am
FIANNA FÁIL TD Dara Calleary has said that part of him “feels awfully” for the family of Charlie Haughey and others who are portrayed in the new drama about the former taoiseach.
The Mayo deputy was speaking ahead of the third and final episode of the landmark RTÉ drama which has so far shone a light on Charlie Haughey’s rise to the office of the Taoiseach and the GUBU events of 1982.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie today, Calleary said that “huge dramatic licence” had been taken with of the some events in the programme and said the targeting of specific people was “dreadfully unfair”.
We also asked him if the three-part drama makes him uncomfortable to be a member of the Fianna Fáil:
Video: Cliodhna Russell/TheJournal.ie
Yesterday, Calleary’s party leader Micheál Martin said he does not believe ‘Charlie’ will do any harm to the party in the opinion polls despite it covering a controversial period in Irish politics.
Speaking at Leinster House, Martin said he would reserve judgement on the drama until the third and final episode is broadcast this Sunday.
“I got the first half of the first episode and I got the full episode last evening. I think I’ll withhold judgement until I see the last one because obviously I would have views on it like everybody else in terms of the drama and so on. I welcome the fact that RTÉ’s drama department is really stepping it up,” he said.
Martin also said that seeing Laurence Kinlan, who plays Elmo Creed in the crime drama Love/Hate, portray the independent TD Tony Gregory in the most recent episode of ‘Charlie’ caused a bit of a stir.
“I had to do a double take as I’m a great fan of Love/Hate as well. So there’s a bit of that to adjust oneself too,” he said.
“I don’t think it will do harm in that sense. I think people will look at it from a historical perspective and so on.”
Martin was also asked today whether he regretted voting to expel Des O’Malley from Fianna Fáil in 1985 when he sat on the national executive.
O’Malley was famously booted from the party for “conduct unbecoming” after voting against Fianna Fáil on a more liberal contraception regime. It followed frequent clashes with his arch-rival Haughey in the early 1980s.
“I think historically, and on reflection, all of those issues could have been handled perhaps better or differently but that’s for the history books. I’ll be writing my own memoirs and perhaps I’ll deal with all of that then,” Martin added.
First published 7pm on 13 January 2015
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