 Haughey's father was in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence, then in the National Army of the Irish Free State.Seán Haughey left the army in 1928 and the family moved to County Meath; there he developed multiple sclerosis and the family moved again to Donnycarney, where Charles Haughey spent his youth.Haughey was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers at St. Joseph's secondary school in Fairview, where one of his classmates was George Colley, subsequently his cabinet colleague and rival in Fianna Fáil.