 In 1983, MacSharry resigned from the Fianna Fáil front bench due to a telephone-tapping controversy, when it was revealed that as Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, he had borrowed police tape recorders to secretly record conversations with a cabinet colleague.He defended his action by saying that rumours were sweeping the party that he could be 'bought' (bribed) to support efforts to depose Haughey; he claimed he used the equipment to record any attempts made to offer bribes.The scandal was however primarily focused on the decision by the Minister for Justice, Seán Doherty, to bug the phones of two leading political journalists to discover their anti-Haughey sources.