Editing Charles Haughey (section)

==Early life==
He was born in [[Castlebar]], [[County Mayo]] on 16 September 1925,{{sfn|Dwyer|1994}} the third of seven children, of Seán Haughey and Sarah McWilliams, both natives of [[Swatragh]], <!-- If you change County Londonderry to County Derry, IT WILL BE PROMPTLY REVERTED -->[[County Londonderry]].<!--
=== NOTE to editors: Read this first regarding Derry/Londonderry===
To avoid constant renaming of articles (and more), keep a neutral point of view, promote consistency in the encyclopaedia, and avoid Stroke City-style terms perplexing to those unfamiliar with the dispute, a compromise solution was proposed and accepted by many users regarding the Derry name dispute. Use Derry for the city and County Londonderry for the county in articles. See also [[WP:IMOS]] and [[WP:DERRY]].
-->  Haughey's father was in the [[Irish Republican Army]] during the [[Irish War of Independence]], then in the [[National Army (Ireland)|National Army]] of the [[Irish Free State]]. Seán Haughey left the army in 1928 and the family moved to [[County Meath]]; he subsequently developed [[multiple sclerosis]] and the family moved again to [[Donnycarney]], a northern working-class suburb of Dublin, where Charles Haughey spent his youth.{{efn|The other six children were Pádraig, Seán, Eoghan, Bridget, Maureen and Eithne.}}<ref name=IrTimes14June06>Carl O'Brien, "Green roots and new shoots – The Family", A supplement with ''[[The Irish Times]]'', 14 June 2006.</ref>

Haughey was educated by the [[Congregation of Christian Brothers|Christian Brothers]] at [[St Joseph's, Fairview|St Joseph's secondary school]] in [[Fairview, Dublin|Fairview]], where one of his classmates was [[George Colley]], subsequently his cabinet colleague and rival in [[Fianna Fáil]]. In his youth he was an active amateur sportsman, playing [[Gaelic football]] with the [[Parnells GAA]] Club in Donnycarney; he won a [[Dublin Senior Football Championship]] medal in 1945. Haughey studied commerce at [[University College Dublin]] (UCD), where he took a first-class Honours degree in 1946. It was at UCD that Haughey became increasingly interested in politics and was elected Auditor of the [[Commerce & Economics Society]]. He also met there one of his future political rivals, [[Garret FitzGerald]].{{efn|Joan O'Farrell, later FitzGerald's wife, had at one stage dated Haughey.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}}}

He joined the [[An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil#Local Defence Force|Local Defence Force]] during "[[The Emergency (Ireland)|The Emergency]]" in 1941 and considered a permanent career in the [[Irish Army|Army]]. He continued to serve in the reserve [[FCÁ]] force, until entering [[Dáil Éireann]] in 1957.{{efn|Haughey served with the North Dublin Battalion, becoming commanding officer of the Donnycarney Platoon FCÁ}}<ref>Local Defence Force (later FCA): 1941 – 1957.  {{cite web|url=http://charlesjhaughey.ie/|title=Charles J Haughey|publisher=charlesjhaughey.ie|access-date=22 March 2016|archive-date=23 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323142123/http://www.charlesjhaughey.ie/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On [[Victory in Europe Day|VE-day]] Haughey and other UCD students burnt the British [[Union Jack]] on [[College Green, Dublin|College Green]], outside [[Trinity College Dublin]], in response to a perceived disrespect afforded the [[Irish tricolour]] among the flags hung by the college in celebration of the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] victory which ended [[World War II]].
<ref name=it-3>[http://www.irishtimes.com/focus/haughey/ITstories/story3.htm A young Turk full of overweening ambition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023094639/http://www.irishtimes.com/focus/haughey/ITstories/story3.htm |date=23 October 2010 }} – ''The Irish Times'' obituary</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Ian S.|last=Wood|title=Ireland During the Second World War|date=2003|page=100|publisher=Caxton Editions |isbn=1-84067-418-0}}</ref>

Haughey qualified as a [[chartered accountant]]. He also attended [[King's Inns]] and was called to the [[bar of Ireland]]. Shortly afterwards, he set up the accountancy firm of Haughey, Boland & Company with Harry Boland, son of Fianna Fáil minister [[Gerald Boland]].

On 18 September 1951, he married [[Maureen Haughey|Maureen Lemass]], the daughter of the Fianna Fáil Minister and future [[Taoiseach]] [[Seán Lemass]], having been close to her since their days at UCD, where they first met.<ref name="IrTimes14June06"/> They had four children together: Eimear, Conor, Ciarán and [[Seán Haughey|Seán]].<ref name=IrTimes14June06/>

After selling his house in [[Raheny]] in 1969, Haughey bought [[Abbeville, Dublin|Abbeville]] and its estate of approximately {{Convert|250|acre|abbr=on}}, located at [[Kinsealy]], north [[County Dublin]]. This historic house, once owned by [[Anglo-Irish]] politician [[John Beresford (statesman)|John Beresford]], had been extensively re-designed by the architect [[James Gandon]] in the late 18th century and it became the Haughey family home, where he lived for the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite news|first=Sam|last=Smyth|title=Four Haughey children will inherit a fortune|newspaper=[[Irish Independent]]|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/four-haughey-children-will-inherit-a-fortune/26379980.html|date=17 June 2006}}</ref>