50 years ago today, at about 15.45 pm on the afternoon of 22 April 1970, the Taoiseach Jack Lynch rose in the Dail and delivered the budget speech in the absence of his Minister of Finance. A few hours earlier Mr Lynch had told a stunned Dail that Mr. Haughey had been involved in 
a riding accident and had been taken to the Mater Hospital with serious injuries.
Within hours the Dail rumour mill had cranked into action. The story soon doing the rounds was that far from falling from his horse, Haughey had, in fact, been severly beaten up in a well-known
Within hours the Dail rumour mill had cranked into action. The story soon doing the rounds was that far from falling from his horse, Haughey had, in fact, been severly beaten up in a well-known
West Dublin pub. He had, the story went, been caught in flagrante with a young woman and the assailants were the girl's enraged father and brother. Haughey dismissed the rumours with his usual flair.
