A Taoiseach warning of a “slippery slide to disaster” — while sailing a 52-foot yacht decked out in mahogany and teak, with an “Admiral’s” cabin and vintage Champagne on ice. Celtic Mist wasn’t just a boat. It became shorthand for power, privilege, and the contradictions of 1980s Ireland. 

Bought after Charles Haughey’s first yacht was wrecked off Mizen Head, and later examined by the McCracken and Moriarty Tribunals, the vessel raised sharp questions about money, loans from businessman Dermot Desmond, and the gap between public austerity and private luxury which included a private island, Inishvickillane, Charvet shirts, and summer voyages to Brittany with Terry Keane. 

Then came an unexpected second act. After Haughey’s death, Celtic Mist was donated to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, circumnavigating Ireland, logging more than 100,000 kilometres of research and even heading for Arctic waters in search of humpbacks. It will retire from service later this year. 

From tribunal exhibit to conservation vessel, Celtic Mist charts a course through scandal, spectacle, and reinvention. Newstalk’s Aisling Moloney joins Ciara Doherty to tell the story.