But now this compartmentalization was breaking down. He was exploiting the drama of his friend’s imminent death, personally extracting money from donors, having their cheques cashed and the bundles of notes delivered to his office. None of this was public yet, but it was sitting there, radiating betrayal and cynicism and cold-eyed rapacity. Haughey must have known that, if it was discovered, he would be ruined, not just politically, but morally. That he did it anyway suggests a faith in the inviolability of the boundaries around what could be known in Ireland that had escalated itself to a
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