Impact
The resignations and sackings left four vacancies in cabinet. As a result there was a major cabinet reshuffle and some senior politicians of the future got their first step on the ministerial ladder such as Desmond O'Malley and Gerry Collins. The negative impact of the scandal on Fianna Fáil, in addition to the perceived role of Fine Gael's Cosgrave in defending the institutions of the state, contributed to the change of government in the subsequent 1973 election.
The scandal led to bitter divisions in Fianna Fáil between supporters of the sacked ministers Haughey and Blaney and supporters of Jack Lynch. The same divisions affected government policy on Northern Ireland. Although the events led to Haughey being demoted to the back-benches, he remained a member of Fianna Fáil, while Boland was expelled in 1970 and Blaney in 1971. Blaney went on to found his own party, Independent Fianna Fáil, which re-joined Fianna Fáil in 2006. Haughey later returned to Ministerial office and succeeded Lynch as party leader in 1979. The divisions only intensified and in 1985 several opponents of Haughey, led by the-then expelled Fianna Fáil member Desmond O'Malley, formed the Progressive Democrats political party. Other opponents of Haughey, such as Charlie McCreevy, would have to wait on the Fianna Fáil backbenches until the end of Haughey's political career in 1992 before being appointed as ministers. There was no rapprochement in the relationship between Gibbons and Haughey and when Haughey became Taoiseach, Gibbons was dropped from his Ministerial office. During a later leadership contest, Gibbons was assaulted in Dáil Éireann by Haughey supporters.
The events came to be one of the defining periods of Lynch's term as leader, during which there were several crises. Lynch supporters saw him as exhibiting strength in facing down the rebel ministers and his detractors saw it as an illustration of his weakness on the national question and procrastination in the face of difficult decisions.
As state papers relating to the period were released after 1995 further light was shed on the events, questioning the outcome. Much remains unknown about the truthfulness of the various personalities involved, and what exactly each knew, and when they came to know it. The diaries of Peter Berry, Secretary of the Department of Justice, published in Magill magazine, claimed that Taoiseach Lynch had not been forthright publicly. Document released through the Freedom of Information Act 30 years later showed that the state had altered statements by Colonel Hefferon to suppress the fact that he and Captain Kelly had kept Gibbons informed. This caused the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to publicly reiterate that Captain Kelly had done nothing wrong.
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