Funeral of Harry Boland, who had close links to Haughey

Harry Boland, whose funeral took place in Dublin yesterday, was a friend and business partner of former taoiseach Charles Haughey.

They knew each other from childhood and they set up accountancy firm Haughey Boland after graduating from UCD. Haughey later left to pursue his political career.

Boland and Haughey were both from the north side of Dublin and attended St Joseph’s, Fairview, before going on to university. When it emerged some years ago that Haughey had received large sums of money from benefactors, his former accountancy partner expressed his disappointment in a media interview. “I think he let himself down,’’ he said.

Boland's extended family was steeped in Fianna Fáil. His uncle, also named Harry, once a friend of Michael Collins, was shot during the Civil War in which he took the anti-Treaty side. His father, Gerald Boland, served as a hardline minister for justice under Eamon de Valera, and his brother, Kevin, was a Fianna Fáil minister who resigned from the Cabinet, and later the party, in the fallout from the 1970 arms crisis.

Boland, who died in Beaumont hospital last week, was buried in St Fintan’s cemetery following Mass at St Fintan’s Church, Sutton. He is survived by his wife, Noirin, sons Harry and Gearóid, and daughter Maire.