THE DAUGHTER OF the late Séan Doherty has hit out at the portrayal of her father in the RTÉ drama ‘Charlie’ last night, saying it was “ridiculous” and farcical” and has undermined the credibility of the programme.
Rachel Doherty, a councillor in Roscommon, took to the airwaves this morning to denounce the second episode of the drama series in which we see her father portrayed by Gavin O’Connor during the 1982 GUBU crisis.
“Every single scene there is an attempt to discredit him and his record, previously in the gardaí and also during his time in government,” she told RTÉ’s Today with Séan O’Rourke.
Doherty was minister for justice who had to resign after it emerged that he had authorised the tapping of the phones of ministers and journalists who were seen as enemies of Charlie Haughey, to whom he was extremely loyal.
The former Fianna Fáil TD would eventually seal Haughey’s downfall in 1992 when he revealed that the Taoiseach of the day had been shown transcripts of some of the secretly recorded calls.
Rachel Doherty said that her father’s portrayal was “cartoonish” and added:
“To say that licence was taken with his character and others’ is an understatement. I really feel at this stage it has undermined the credibility of the programme.”
She said that nothing about that period in Irish politics was portrayed accurately in the programme and said there was no attempt to show the climate of the time.
Doherty said that the programme was a “continuing, unrelenting and vicious attack” on her father, who died in 2005, and insisted he was “a serious, bright, intelligent mind”.
She said there had been no attempt to contact any of her father’s family, friends or people in Roscommon who knew him.
The Fianna Fáil councillor said she was “angry and disgusted”, described the programme as “salacious” and added: “It’s in bad taste overall.”
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