Download or read book Bertie Ahern and the Drumcondra Mafia written by Shane Coleman and published by Hachette Books Ireland. This book was released on 2012-07-30 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 2008, Bertie Ahern announced his resignation as Taoiseach, prompted by ongoing evidence in a planning inquiry that uncovered he had received large sums of money when minister for finance. Yet, even in defeat, he remained the most popular politician of his generation, one for whom the defining 'Teflon Taoiseach' tag had not entirely slid away. However, what made Bertie Ahern unique was not his enormous popularity or the revelations about his personal finances, but his dependence on a power base largely separate to Fianna Fail: 'the Drumcondra Mafia', a largely unknown, fiercely loyal, close-knit group of friends. When Ahern was Taoiseach the centre of power was arguably as much in St Luke's, the legendary constituency office bought by the Drumcondra Mafia, as in Government Buildings. Bertie Ahern and the Drumcondra Mafia takes the reader inside the organisation and examines how they not only established the most efficient electoral machine in the country but put 'their man' in the most senior political office in the state. It also details how, in his rise to power, Ahern acquired substantial sums of money while propagating the image of a man with no interest in money. Finally, it tracks his descent with the investigation into his finances, a descent punctuated by one final victory, in the 2007 general election. This is the story not just of Bertie Ahern but of the men and women who travelled with him on his extraordinary journey.
Download or read book Bertie Ahern Autobiography written by Bertie Ahern and published by Random House. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bertie Ahern, three times Irish Taoiseach, is often described as an enigma. The Old IRA man's son who delivered peace in Northern Ireland. A working class boy responsible for the Celtic Tiger. The man of faith who ushered in progressive, cosmopolitan secular Ireland. An ardent nationalist admired by European leaders. 'I know 25 per cent of Bertie Ahern', said his finance minister, Charlie McCreevy, 'and that's 24 per cent more than anyone else.' Now in this frank and revealing autobiography, Ahern gives his own account of a remarkable political life and the personal story that accompanies it. He shows the cost to his family of a life played out in the public eye and, for the first time, discloses what really happened in his final weeks in power. Here for the first time is the truth behind the man who is Bertie. Ahern has been at the cutting edge of Irish politics for over three decades. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann in the Fianna Fáil landslide victory in 1977 that saw Jack Lynch returned as Taoiseach. In 1982, Charles Haughey appointed him Government Chief Whip. In volatile political times, he strongly supported Haughey during three challenges to his leadership of Fianna Fáil. In 1987, Bertie Ahern received his first cabinet portfolio as Minister for Labour. It was a time when the Irish economy was in crisis. Ireland had a higher debt per head than Ethiopia or Sudan. Unemployment stood at 16%. Ahern negotiated Ireland's first social partnership agreement, which underpinned economic recovery and put in place the foundations for a period of sustained growth. In 1991, he was appointed Minister for Finance. International commentators first began to refer to 'Ireland's Tiger economy' in this period. When Bertie Ahern left the Department of Finance in late 1994, for the first time in almost 30 years, Ireland had a budget surplus. Bertie Ahern succeeded Albert Reynolds as leader of Fianna Fáil in November 1994. Following the General Election in 1997, he became Ireland's youngest ever Taoiseach. The Ahern Era was a time of unprecedented progress in Irish society. Over the course of his tenure in office, Ireland's economy out-performed that of every other European country. For the first time ever, the number of people in employment in the State reached 2 million. Working closely with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, Ahern won widespread acclaim for his perseverance and skill in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement, which has provided the political framework for a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. On the international stage, he was a respected figure who enjoyed an acclaimed Presidency of the European Council in 2004. He presided over the completion of the largest ever expansion of the EU and concluded negotiations on a European constitution. He is one of only five visiting statesmen to have addressed both the United States Congress and the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. At home, Ahern enjoyed phenomenal electoral support. He was the first Taoiseach since 1944 to win three successive General Elections. Bertie Ahern resigned on 6th May, 2008. He had served for ten years, ten months and ten days as Taoiseach.
Download or read book Bertie Ahern The Man Who Blew the Boom written by Colm Keena and published by Gill & Macmillan Ltd. This book was released on 2011-10-21 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating story of the man who blew the boom. Colm Keena, the journalist who first broke the story of Bertie Ahern's finances, gives us an in-depth examination of the former Taoiseach's character, his lust for power and his obsession with money. Keena scrutinises the evidence produced by the Mahon Tribunal about Ahern's personal finances and his personal political machine, and illustrates the lengths to which Ahern went in his effort to hide the truth about what he was up to. Ahern's political career is re-charted in the light of what we now know about his character. Keena looks at how his desire for power existed alongside an almost complete absence of political conviction, this lack of which left him open to the influence of those with strong opinions, and did nothing to arrest his mismanagement of the Irish economy. His lust for popularity brought Ireland from rude good health to economic disaster. An historic opportunity was squandered, but Bertie walked away from the wreckage with his wallet bulging. His legacy: the near-destruction of a European economy and the collapse of one of the most successful political parties of the past hundred years.
Download or read book Wasters written by Nick Webb and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2010-09-27 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the years when all seemed well with the Irish economy, a scandal bloomed in front of our faces but went mostly unnoticed: the scandal of public waste. Vast overspending on infrastructure (including a number of white elephants), extravagant use of overpriced consultants, the creation of dozens of quangos whose primary purpose seemed to be jobs for the boys, the culture of junketry that took hold in the semi-state sector and the Oireachtas - these and other dubious practices flourished during the years when the state's coffers were overflowing. The insiders benefited; the rest of us got ripped off. Now, as the state scrambles to bail out the banks and to bring order to the shattered public finances by taking money out of the pockets of ordinary working people, Shane Ross and Nick Webb tell the story of the wasters: the people who perfected and benefited from the culture of cronyism and waste. Thanks in large part to Ross and Webb's journalism in the Sunday Independent exposing scandals in FAS and CIE, we already know part of this story. In Wasters, the authors show how wide and how deep the rot runs, and they show that every scandal has one thing in common: insiders profiting at the expense of ordinary people.
Download or read book Scandal Nation written by Shane Coleman and published by Hachette Books Ireland. This book was released on 2012-07-16 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are where we are has become one of the great truisms of the current crisis facing the country. But how did we get here and can an inspection of the roots of our modern failings - of government, state agencies and church - help us to pave a way forward? Scandal Nation argues the case as it analyses twelve key events since the foundation of the Irish state that shaped us as a nation. It examines the culture within which these events occurred, how they unfolded and their impact on what followed.
Download or read book How Ireland Voted 2011 written by M. Gallagher and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-12-11 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The collapse of the Irish 'Celtic Tiger' economy, in the wake of a banking disaster, provoked a joint EU/IMF rescue plan in late 2010. The election that followed saw Europe's most successful ever party lose more than half of its vote and almost three quarters of its seats. This book provides the definitive analysis of an electoral earthquake.
Download or read book Israel Palestine and the Politics of a Two State Solution written by Thomas G. Mitchell and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-05-27 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a dispassionate examination of the viability of a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the politics of Israel, Palestine and the United States. It includes instructive case studies from South Africa in Namibia and the Irish claim to Northern Ireland. The results of Israeli elections from 2001 to 2013 are analyzed (with the conclusion that the Likud will be in any government coalition for at least the midterm future, giving it a veto over policy). A chapter examining the history and ideology of the secular right over the last 90 years follows. There are three chapters of case studies: the Likud withdrawal from the Sinai in 1979-1982 and from Gaza in 2005, the withdrawal of South Africa from Namibia in 1988-1989, and the dropping of Ireland's constitutional claim to Northern Ireland in 1998 under a Fianna Fail government--the same party that wrote the constitution in 1937. A chapter examines Palestinian politics since the mandatory era and another, the American-Israeli alliance and American politics. A concluding chapter draws lessons from the case studies and the analysis.
Download or read book When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out written by David J. J. Lynch and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-11-09 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few countries have been as dramatically transformed in recent years as Ireland. Once a culturally repressed land shadowed by terrorism and on the brink of economic collapse, Ireland finally emerged in the late 1990s as the fastest-growing country in Europe, with the typical citizen enjoying a higher standard of living than the average Brit. Just a few years after celebrating their newly-won status among the world's richest societies, the Irish are now saddled with a wounded, shrinking economy, soaring unemployment, and ruined public finances. After so many centuries of impoverishment, how did the Irish finally get rich, and how did they then fritter away so much so quickly? Veteran journalist David J. Lynch offers an insightful, character-driven narrative of how the Irish boom came to be and how it went bust. He opens our eyes to a nation's downfall through the lived experience of individual citizens: the people responsible for the current crisis as well as the ordinary men and women enduring it.
Download or read book Ireland s 1916 Rising written by Mark McCarthy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-06 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In light of its upcoming centenary in 2016, the time seems ripe to ask: why, how and in what ways has memory of Ireland’s 1916 Rising persisted over the decades? In pursuing answers to these questions, which are not only of historical concern, but of contemporary political and cultural importance, this book breaks new ground by offering a wide-ranging exploration of the making and remembrance of the story of 1916 in modern times. It draws together the interlocking dimensions of history-making, commemoration and heritage to reveal the Rising’s undeniable influence upon modern Ireland’s evolution, both instantaneous and long-term. In addition to furnishing a history of the tumultuous events of Easter 1916, which rattled the British Empire’s foundations and enthused independence movements elsewhere, Ireland’s 1916 Rising mainly concentrates on illuminating the evolving relationship between the Irish past and present. In doing so, it unearths the far-reaching political impacts and deep-seated cultural legacies of the actions taken by the rebels, as evidenced by the most pivotal episodes in the Rising’s commemoration and the myriad varieties of heritage associated with its memory. This volume also presents a wider perspective on the ways in which conceptualisations of heritage, culture and identity in Westernised societies are shaped by continuities and changes in politics, society and economy. In a topical conclusion, the book examines the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to the Garden of Remembrance in 2011, and looks to the Rising’s 100th anniversary by identifying the common ground that can be found in pluralist and reconciliatory approaches to remembrance.
Download or read book Theological Ethics in a Neoliberal Age written by Kevin Hargaden and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-10-31 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout his ministry, Jesus spoke frequently and unabashedly on the now-taboo subject of money. With nothing good to say to the rich, the New Testament—indeed the entire Bible—is far from positive towards the topic of personal wealth. And yet, we all seek material prosperity and comfort. How are Christians to square the words of their savior with the balances of their bank accounts, or more accurately, with their unquenchable desire for financial security? While the church has developed diverse responses to the problems of poverty, it is often silent on what seems almost as straightforward a biblical principle: that wealth, too, is a problem. By considering the particular context of the recent economic history of Ireland, this book explores how the parables of Jesus can be the key to unlocking what it might mean to follow Christ as wealthy people without diluting our dilemma or denying the tension. Through an engagement with contemporary economic and political thought, aided by the work of Karl Barth and William T. Cavanaugh, this book represents a unique and innovative intervention to a discussion that applies to every Christian in the Western world.
Download or read book Ireland s History written by Kenneth L. Campbell and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-12-05 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ireland's History provides an introduction to Irish history that blends a scholarly approach to the subject, based on recent research and current historiographical perspectives, with a clear and accessible writing style. All the major themes in Irish history are covered, from prehistoric times right through to present day, from the emergence of Celtic Christianity after the fall of the Roman Empire, to Ireland and the European Union, secularism and rapprochement with the United Kingdom. By avoiding adopting a purely nationalistic perspective, Kenneth Campbell offers a balanced approach, covering not only social and economic history, but also political, cultural, and religious history, and exploring the interconnections among these various approaches. This text will encourage students to think critically about the past and to examine how a study of Irish history might inform and influence their understanding of history in general.
Download or read book Political corruption in Ireland 1922 2010 written by Elaine Byrne and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-18 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book empirically maps the decline in standards since the inauguration of Irish independence in 1922, to the loss of Irish economic sovereignty in 2010. It argues that the definition of corruption is an evolving one. As the nature of the state changes, so too does the type of corruption. New evidence is presented on the early institutional development of the state. Irish public life was motivated by an ethos which rejected patronage. Original research provides fresh insights into how the policies of economic protectionalism and discretionary decision making led to eight Tribunal inquires. The emergence of state capture within political decision making is examined by analysing political favouritism towards the beef industry. The degree to which unorthodox links between political donations impacted on policy choices which exacerbated the depth of Ireland’s economic collapse is considered. This book will appeal to students and scholars of Irish politics, corruption theory, governance, public policy and political financing.
Download or read book A History of Fianna F il written by Noel Whelan and published by Gill & Macmillan Ltd. This book was released on 2011-11-04 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fianna Fáil Party was founded in 1926 and first came to Government in 1932. From that date until 2010, it has completely dominated the political life of the Republic of Ireland. For all but 13 of those 78 years, it has formed the Government of Ireland, either on its own or as the dominant party in a coalition. Fianna Fáil has always seen itself as more than a party. Its self-image has been that of a national movement, one that represented the nation in microcosm and superseded partisan and regional prejudices. While holding this view of itself, it also managed to be the most ruthlessly, successful and professional party machine in Europe. Noel Whelan, the distinguished political commentator and columnist, is steeped in the Fianna Fáil tradition. In this book, he traces the party's fortunes from its foundation by Eamon deValera and Seén Lemass in the 1920s through the economic war of the 1930, war time neutrality and stagnation of the 1950s. Lemass's Governments of the 1960s, generally regarded as the best in the history of the State, restored the Country's fortunes, but the 70s and 80s were locust years dominated by the divisive and charismatic figure of Charles J. Haughey. Under the later leadership of Bertie Ahern, party divisions were healed, and it seemed that national divisions were healed with them. An economic boom was allowed recklessly to run out of control with the result that the party, having brought Irish prosperity to a new peak, was then blamed for the sudden violence of the crash. The general election of 2011 reduced Fianna Fáil to its lowest ebb since it was founded. It may not have marked the end of the party, but it clearly marked the end of an era that began in 1932.
Download or read book Unlocked written by David McDonald and published by Random House. This book was released on 2022-07-14 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Number One Bestseller ______________ For over thirty years, David McDonald worked in Ireland's biggest prisons. This is his story. As a young officer, McDonald got a baptism of fire in Mountjoy. In 1989 it was a chaotic, pungent and overcrowded place, and the approach to keeping order was primitive. Returning to his hometown two years later, he entered Portlaoise Prison, which - due to the presence of IRA and other subversive prisoners - was then the most secure prison in Europe. McDonald was amazed to discover the power of these subversives within the prison. Portlaoise, and later the new Midlands Prison, were also where Ireland's emerging class of serious gangsters were housed. McDonald dealt with notorious household names like John Gilligan, Christy Kinahan, Brian Meehan, Dessie O'Hare and, more recently, killers like Graham Dwyer, in his average working day. McDonald shares vivid accounts of the constant war of attrition between prisoners and prison authorities over the smuggling of contraband like drugs and phones. His work in a specialist security unit trying to stop this trafficking sometimes brought him into conflict with his bosses. He also questioned aspects of an often brutal and under-resourced system. Ultimately, concerns about poor handling of key issues led to him becoming a whistle-blower. In Unlocked, McDonald brilliantly describes the boredom, the constant tension and flashpoints of extreme violence, and the moments of comedy, tragedy and surprising humanity that are part and parcel of working in prisons. Written with the help of award-winning journalist and author, Mick Clifford, it is a jaw-dropping and authentic account of life in the toughest of workplaces. _____________ 'An extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the hidden world of Irish prisoners . . . fascinating' Brendan O'Connor 'Cracking' Matt Cooper
Download or read book Ireland written by Seán Ó Nualláin and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-04 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, the socialist writer James Connolly ordered an armed group to march down Dame Street in Dublin, in what became a citizens’ occupation of Dublin city centre. As Connolly hoped, the shockwave launched by the doomed uprising kindled fires of revolution throughout the colonies during all of the 20th century. On 18 November 2010, a small unescorted group of IMF technocrats walked down Dame Street – home of their goal, the Irish Central Bank – to articulate the re-colonisation of Ireland. Ireland: A Colony Once Again first explains the lack of public protest by the Irish in the face of a grim future. In particular, the author argues that the IMF move simply cemented in place a deal done long ago between globalized corporatism and Irish Catholic nationalism. Almost all sectors of Irish civil society that might have offered resistance, including Connolly’s Labour movement, had long ago been bought off or destroyed. However, the vacuum created by the perceived fall of the neoliberal world order in 2008 affords an opportunity to re-construct Ireland. In particular, the author argues that the mechanisms used to buttress the current order – from the state security apparatus to the mainstream media – have a less firm hold on power than appears at first sight to be the case. Furthermore, given its history, culture and geographic location, Ireland is very well placed to re-imagine and re-invent itself in a short space of time, in freedom and joy.
Download or read book Ambiguous Republic written by Diarmaid Ferriter and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 849 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hard-nosed scholarship and moral passion underpin Diarmaid Ferriter's work. Now he turns to the key years of the 70s, when after half a century of independence, questions were being asked about the old ways of doing things. Ambiguous Republic considers the widespread social, cultural, economic and political upheavals of the decade, a decade when Ireland joined the EEC; when for the first time a majority of the population lived in urban areas; when economic challenges abounded; which saw too an increasingly visible feminist moment, and institutions including the Church began to be subjected to criticism.Diarmaid Ferriter's earlier books have been described as 'a landmark' and 'an immense contribution'; making 'brilliant use of new sources'; 'prodigiously gifted', and 'ground-breaking'. All those words apply to this important book based on recently opened archives and unique access to the papers of Jack Lynch and Liam Cosgrave.
Download or read book Electoral competition in Ireland since 1987 written by Gary Murphy and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This major new account of the politics of modern Ireland offers a rigorous analysis of the forces which shaped both how the Irish state governed itself from the period since 1987 and how it lost its economic sovereignty in 2010.
