Sir, – Deaglán de Bréadún (Opinion, January 21st), writes regarding the sinking of the Belgrano: “Charlie Haughey’s rejection of that harsh action was one of the few times he had a national consensus behind him”.
The truth is a little different. Mr Haughey’s initial reaction was to continue to support the British.
Shortly after word of the sinking of the Belgrano broke, my father, Kildare TD, Paddy Power, minister for defence, attended a Fianna Fáil meeting in the Copper Beech in Edenderry, where he said that the sinking of the Belgrano, outside the British-declared Total Exclusion Zone of 370 km (200 nautical miles) radius from the islands, suggested to him that Britain was now the aggressor in the Falklands war.
The comment appeared in the Irish Independent the following day.
The taoiseach summoned Paddy Power to his office, where he told his Minister of Defence that he wanted him to withdraw his remark.
This Paddy Power refused to do.
He left the taoiseach’s office and returned to his own office in the Phoenix Park and heard no more about the subject.
Meanwhile, support for Paddy Power’s stance continued to grow, both at home and abroad.
I assume that Charlie Haughey, sensing which way the wind was blowing, decided to follow the national consensus.
This is different to having a national consensus behind him. – Yours, etc,