corkdood

John Bruton former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland 1994-1997 has passed away. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bruton

No problem I was surprised to see an Irish politician on your list (albeit one of the most corrupt ones) He was meant to come up before courts and tribunals for tax evasion several times over the last 10 years but slimed his way out of them each time claiming ill health. He can't escape the grim reaper though. I saw him a few years ago attending (ironically enough) the funeral of another former prime minister (taoiseach) It was a very formal state ocassion and many hundreds of people had lined the streets to watch the funeral processing pass by. I could see from his expression that he knew that when his time came not half the people would come out to watch his funeral. He is a very hated public figure in Ireland but hopefully when he dies we'll get a day off to mark the occasion!

Looks like he's on the way out - finally!!! Former taoiseach Charles Haughey is seriously ill in hospital after a significant deterioration in his health in recent days. Mr Haughey (80), who has been suffering from prostate cancer for several years, was brought to the Mater private hospital this week after becoming significantly weaker last weekend. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1995 and has been hospitalised on a number of occasions. Mr Haughey's illness prevented him from giving evidence about his finances to the Moriarty tribunal over the past few years. His financial affairs were in the news again last week after the tribunal heard evidence of a €5 million tax settlement he made to the Revenue Commissioners in 2003 in relation to gifts of large sums of money he received from Ben Dunne and others. At the time, this was the largest tax settlement made by an individual taxpayer. The Moriarty tribunal agreed in 2001 that Mr Haughey should no longer be required to give evidence due to illness. (Source Irish Times - www.ireland.com March 30th 2006)