Ten years ago, in the aftermath of the emotional trauma that erupted on the murder of Veronica Guerin, the Oireachtas passed a raft of legislation to combat what was seen as the menace of organised crime. It was asserted hysterically that the crime bosses threatened our democratic institutions, that her murder represented an assault on freedom of the press, that crime was out of control.

The print media turned venomously on Charles Haughey after his death. The tabloids salivated over gossip about his private life. But even the more sober evaluations were almost unanimously vituperative, most especially the Irish Times. In a defining news feature, published on Saturday 17 June, Peter Murtagh claimed the 1982 Haughey government represented the most serious threat to democracy since the civil war.
Vincent Browne analyses the claims

Only one person is now in jail because of Veronica Guerin's murder and he has a good chance of being released on appeal. By Vincent Browne

I had known Charlie Haughey since 1965 when, as a student, I was on a television panel that interviewed him. With a mutual friend I visited him in his first grand home, Grangemore, in 1968. I remember very little about the visit but he later recalled I asked him then where he got the money to afford such a fine house. I asked him the same question again and again over the years and one time in 1979, a few months before he became Taoiseach, he told me the truth but I didn't believe him.

This is not an appropriate occasion for a comprehensive review of Charlie Haughey's contribution to public life. But one thing is sure: he made a substantial contribution, to the economy, to the Northern peace processes, towards social stability and to the care of the elderly.

Charlie Haughey's last five years were a steady and sad progression towards death. During that time, Vincent Browne visited him frequently at his home in Kinsealy. Here he writes about those visits and those conversations

Fine Gael is right to demand an independent inquiry into the mishandling of the constitutional crisis over sex-offenders. The scale of the bungling was awesome. But an inquiry into what went on in the offices of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the chief state solicitor, the Attorney General's office and the offices of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is not enough. Indeed such an inquiry is tangential to what needs to be done.

Asked to comment on Catherine Butler's recollections of the events in December 1982, including one meeting at which Sean Doherty, allegedly, was present, his widow, Maura Doherty, said: "The first anniversary of Sean's death is just at this time and I think it would be inappropriate for me to get drawn into this at this time."

The vast preponderance of criminality about which the Irish public is now agitated is crime emanating from working class areas . These crimes are burglaries, larcenies, drug crime and what is known as "organised crime", which has involved a serious of high-profile murders.

It is incomprehensible that the Government did not know of the "C" case years ago and that a constitutional crisis was likely. This will do lasting damage to the Government parties. By Vincent Browne