Editing Charles Haughey (section)

===Minister for Finance===
In November 1966, the [[Taoiseach]] [[Seán Lemass]] retired. Haughey declared his candidature to succeed Lemass in the consequent [[1966 Fianna Fáil leadership election|leadership election]], and [[George Colley]] and [[Neil Blaney]] did likewise. As this meant that three strong candidates held strong and divisive views on the future of the party, the party elders sought to find a compromise candidate. Lemass himself encouraged his [[Minister for Finance]] [[Jack Lynch]], to contest the party leadership, and encouraged Colley, Haughey and Blaney to withdraw in favour of Lynch, arguing that they would not win a contest against him. However, Colley refused the Taoiseach's request and insisted on remaining in the race, but he was defeated by Lynch. Upon Lynch's election as Taoiseach, Haughey was appointed Minister for Finance by Lynch, in a cabinet reshuffle, which indicated that Haughey's withdrawal was a gain at the expense of Colley. The socially inclusive initiatives that Haughey made caught the public imagination; these included popular decisions to introduce free travel on public transport for pensioners, subsidise electricity for pensioners, the grant special tax concessions for the disabled and tax exemptions for artists. They increased Haughey's appeal and his support in the media and artistic community.

As Minister for Finance, Haughey on two occasions arranged foreign currency loans for the government which he then arranged to be left on deposit in foreign countries ([[Germany]] and the [[United States]]), in the local currencies, instead of immediately changing the loans to [[Irish pound]]s and depositing them in the exchequer. These actions were unconstitutional because they effectively meant that the Minister for Finance was making currency speculation against his currency. When this was challenged by the Comptroller and Auditor General [[Eugene Francis Suttle]], Haughey introduced a law to retrospectively legalise his actions. The legislation was passed on 26 November 1969.