Support of Charles Haughey

In 1979, Doherty was a key member of the so-called "gang of five" which supported Charles Haughey's attempt to take over the leadership of the party. The other members were Albert Reynolds, Mark Killilea Jnr, Tom McEllistrim and Jackie Fahey.

Haughey was successful in the leadership contest and Doherty was rewarded by being appointed Minister of State at the Department of Justice from 1979 to 1981. In the short-lived 1982 Fianna Fáil government, Doherty entered the Cabinet as Minister for Justice. In this post, he became involved in a series of controversies.

Dowra affair

The brother of Seán Doherty's wife Maura, Garda Thomas Nangle,^[4] was charged with assaulting James McGovern, a native of County Fermanagh, in a public house in December 1981. On 27 September 1982, hours before the case was due to be heard in the District Court in Dowra, a small village in northwest County Cavan, McGovern was arrested by the Special Branch of the RUC on the basis of entirely false Garda intelligence that he was involved in terrorism. The case against Nangle was dismissed because the principal witness, McGovern, failed to appear in court. The solicitor representing Nangle was Kevin Doherty, Seán Doherty's brother.^[5][6][7] This 'questionable' use of Garda/RUC Special Branch liaison, set up under the 1985 Hillsborough Anglo-Irish Agreement, prevented meetings between the Garda Commissioner and the RUC chief constable for almost three years.^[8]

Phone tapping

After Doherty left office it was revealed in The Irish Times that he ordered the tapping of three journalists' home telephones. The newspaper also disclosed that he had been interfering in the workings of the Garda and the administration of justice for both political and personal reasons. He immediately resigned from the party; however, he rejoined in 1984. At the 1989 general election, he lost his seat in Dáil Éireann to the independent candidate Tom Foxe.^[9]

Seanad Éireann

He was also an unsuccessful candidate in the elections on the same day to the European Parliament, but he was later elected instead to Seanad Éireann as a Senator for the Administrative Panel and became the Cathaoirleach (Chairman) of the 19th Seanad.

End of Haughey term

Plaque at the Hells Kitchen Railway Museum (Castlerea).

In January 1992, the phone tapping scandal returned to haunt Fianna Fáil. Doherty announced in a television interview that he had shown transcripts of the conversations to Charles Haughey while Haughey was Taoiseach in 1982. Doherty had previously denied this. Haughey denied the claim also, but was forced to resign from office, and then resigned as leader of Fianna Fáil. Doherty then regained his seat at the 1992 general election and held it until his retirement at the 2002 general election.