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 written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A History of Irish Autobiography written by Liam Harte and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-01 with total page 719 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A History of Irish Autobiography is the first ever critical survey of autobiographical self-representation in Ireland from its recoverable beginnings to the twenty-first century. The book draws on a wealth of original scholarship by leading experts to provide an authoritative examination of autobiographical writing in the English and Irish languages. Beginning with a comprehensive overview of autobiography theory and criticism in Ireland, the History guides the reader through seventeen centuries of Irish achievement in autobiography, a category that incorporates diverse literary forms, from religious tracts and travelogues to letters, diaries, and online journals. This ambitious book is rich in insight. Chapters are structured around key subgenres, themes, texts, and practitioners, each featuring a guide to recommended further reading. The volume's extensive coverage is complemented by a detailed chronology of Irish autobiography from the fifth century to the contemporary era, the first of its kind to be published.
Download or read book Ireland 1798 1998 written by Alvin Jackson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-03-16 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Receiving widespread critical acclaim when first published,Ireland 1798-1998 has been revised to include coverage ofthe most recent developments. Jackson’s stylish and impartialinterpretation continues to provide the most up-to-date andimportant survey of 200 years of Irish history. A new edition of this highly acclaimed history of Ireland,reflecting both the very latest political developments and growthof scholarship Jackson provides a balanced and authoritative account of thecomplex political history of modern Ireland Draws on original research and extensive reading of the latestsecondary literature Jackson provides an impressive treatment of events coupled withflowing narrative, delivered analytically and elegantly
Download or read book We Don t Know Ourselves A Personal History of Modern Ireland written by Fintan O'Toole and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 788 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES • 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR NATIONAL BESTSELLER The Atlantic: 10 Best Books of 2022 Best Books of the Year: Washington Post, New Yorker, Salon, Foreign Affairs, New Statesman, Chicago Public Library, Vroman's “[L]ike reading a great tragicomic Irish novel.” —James Wood, The New Yorker “Masterful . . . astonishing.” —Cullen Murphy, The Atlantic "A landmark history . . . Leavened by the brilliance of O'Toole's insights and wit.” —Claire Messud, Harper’s Winner • 2021 An Post Irish Book Award — Nonfiction Book of the Year • from the judges: “The most remarkable Irish nonfiction book I’ve read in the last 10 years”; “[A] book for the ages.” A celebrated Irish writer’s magisterial, brilliantly insightful chronicle of the wrenching transformations that dragged his homeland into the modern world. Fintan O’Toole was born in the year the revolution began. It was 1958, and the Irish government—in despair, because all the young people were leaving—opened the country to foreign investment and popular culture. So began a decades-long, ongoing experiment with Irish national identity. In We Don’t Know Ourselves, O’Toole, one of the Anglophone world’s most consummate stylists, weaves his own experiences into Irish social, cultural, and economic change, showing how Ireland, in just one lifetime, has gone from a reactionary “backwater” to an almost totally open society—perhaps the most astonishing national transformation in modern history. Born to a working-class family in the Dublin suburbs, O’Toole served as an altar boy and attended a Christian Brothers school, much as his forebears did. He was enthralled by American Westerns suddenly appearing on Irish television, which were not that far from his own experience, given that Ireland’s main export was beef and it was still not unknown for herds of cattle to clatter down Dublin’s streets. Yet the Westerns were a sign of what was to come. O’Toole narrates the once unthinkable collapse of the all-powerful Catholic Church, brought down by scandal and by the activism of ordinary Irish, women in particular. He relates the horrific violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which led most Irish to reject violent nationalism. In O’Toole’s telling, America became a lodestar, from John F. Kennedy’s 1963 visit, when the soon-to-be martyred American president was welcomed as a native son, to the emergence of the Irish technology sector in the late 1990s, driven by American corporations, which set Ireland on the path toward particular disaster during the 2008 financial crisis. A remarkably compassionate yet exacting observer, O’Toole in coruscating prose captures the peculiar Irish habit of “deliberate unknowing,” which allowed myths of national greatness to persist even as the foundations were crumbling. Forty years in the making, We Don’t Know Ourselves is a landmark work, a memoir and a national history that ultimately reveals how the two modes are entwined for all of us.
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 Debating the Eighth written by Conor O’Riordan and published by Orpen Press. This book was released on with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contentious 1983 Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland introduced a constitutional prohibition on the provision of abortion within the Irish State. In the decades since, further referendums, court cases and legislation have tried to adjust and clarify the scope of this provision, often in the midst of bitter and angry debate. With the current government promising a referendum on repealing the Eighth in May/June 2018, the debate is growing again. But in the midst of claim and counter-claim, media debates, Twitter rants and false news fears on Facebook, what are the arguments for retaining or repealing the Eighth? In Debating the Eighth, sixteen contributors put forward their positions on the defining issue of our generation. Gathered together in one volume are presented arguments from: Jan O’Sullivan, TD (Labour)Tracy Harkin, the Iona InstituteKate O’Connell, TD (Fine Gael)Niamh Uí Bhriain, the Life InstituteCatherine Connolly, TD (Independent)Declan Ganley, pro-life speaker and campaignerBríd Smith, TD (People Before Profit)Bernadette Goulding, Women HurtUrsula Barry, Co-Director of the Centre for Gender, Feminisms and Sexualities, UCDDr Anthony McCarthy, Society for the Protection of Unborn ChildrenKevin Keane, President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ UnionRóisín Bradley, Fianna Fáil (writing in a personal capacity)Valerie Tarico, psychologist and a social commentatorKaren Gaffney, Karen Gaffney FoundationA Catholic priest (identified in the book)Mark Fitzpatrick, Arann Reformed Baptist Church Debating the Eighth is unique in providing both sides of the debate with an equal platform to put forward their arguments. Its contributors include two women with personal experience of abortion, a person with Down’s syndrome and a Catholic priest arguing from a pro-choice perspective. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the forthcoming debate.
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.
Download or read book Albert Reynolds written by Conor Lenihan and published by Merrion Press. This book was released on 2021-09-01 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Albert Reynolds: Risktaker for Peace, Conor Lenihan takes the reader on a journey through the former Taoiseach’s fascinating life. From his early days in Roscommon, Reynolds’ determination and hard work saw him rise from a humble clerical job with Irish Rail to become one of Ireland’s best-known showbiz promoters. But it is as creator of the template for peace on the island of Ireland that he, deservedly, will be best remembered. Reynolds’ extraordinary progress from the cut-throat world of business to local politics, and, ultimately, government ministries, was driven by the entrepreneurial spirit and impatience that became the hallmark of his success and his failure. Appointed as Taoiseach in 1992, by 1994 he had been drummed out of office, yet in that brief period he confounded his critics by fast-tracking an end to the violence of the Troubles, with the IRA and Loyalist ceasefires. In the first complete biography of Reynolds, former Minister of State Conor Lenihan delivers an insider’s account that reveals the courageous personal risks Reynolds took to create the template for peace in Ireland, and the highs and lows of a tempestuous, risk taking life.
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 Inside Accounts Volume II written by Graham Spencer and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-24 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume two of the most authoritative and revealing account yet of how the Irish Government managed the Northern Ireland peace process and helped broker a political settlement to end the conflict there. Based on nine extended interviews with key officials and political leaders including Bertie Ahern, this book provides a compelling picture of how the peace process was created and how it came to be successful. Covering areas such as informal negotiation, text and context, strategy, working with British and American Governments, and offering perceptions of other players involved in the dialogue and negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and the power-sharing arrangements that followed, this dramatic account will become a major source for academics and interested readers alike for years to come. Volume One deals with the Irish Government and Sunningdale (1973) and the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985) and Volume Two on the Good Friday Agreement (1998) and beyond.
Download or read book Haughey written by Gary Murphy and published by Gill & Macmillan Ltd. This book was released on 2021-11-26 with total page 969 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With exclusive access to the Haughey archives, Gary Murphy presents a reassessment of Charles Haughey's life and legacy. Saint or sinner? Charles Haughey was, depending on whom you ask, either the great villain of Irish political life or the benevolent and forward-thinking saviour of a benighted nation. He was undoubtedly the most talented and influential politician of his generation, yet the very roots of his success – his charisma, his intelligence, his ruthlessness, his secrecy – have rendered almost impossible any objective evaluation of his life and work. That is, until now. Based on unfettered access to Haughey's personal archives, as well as extensive interviews with more than eighty of his peers, rivals, confidants and relatives, Haughey is a rich and nuanced portrait of a man of prodigious gifts, who, for all his flaws and many contradictions, came to define modern Ireland. 'A superbly balanced exploration of the life and politics of one of the most fascinating figures in 20th century Ireland.' Professor John Horgan 'An indispensable read for anyone with an interest in modern Irish history.' David McCullagh 'Offers much new detail – and not a few surprises – about the personality and career of a political titan who is still, in equal measure, revered and reviled in 21st century Ireland.' Conor Brady
Download or read book The A to Z of the Northern Ireland Conflict written by Gordon Gillespie and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2009-09-24 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly four decades the conflict in Ireland has embittered relations between the communities living there and spoiled relations between the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. For three decades it escalated, punctuated by periodic bloody clashes followed by somewhat calmer periods of tension during which violence of all sorts_robberies, kidnappings, serious injuries and deaths_were all too common. During the past decade, fortunately, all sides have realized that armed solutions were unlikely to bring a solution to anyone's problems and that peace should be given a chance. Fortunately, with the establishment of a new Northern Ireland Executive, there is a general acceptance that the conflict is now part of the past. The A to Z of the Northern Ireland Conflict covers the history of 'the Troubles' through a chronology covering the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process from 1968 until the formation of the new Northern Ireland Executive in May 2007, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on main events, individuals, and organizations. Researchers with an interest in the Northern Ireland conflict will find this book to be an essential addition to their collection of reference books on the subject.
Download or read book This is Charlie Bird written by Charlie Bird and published by Gill & Macmillan Ltd. This book was released on 2006-09-29 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles "Charlie" Bird has had a long and distinguished career in Irish Journalism. He joined RTE – The National Broadcaster– in 1974. He has been at the heart of every big news event for over thirty years, breaking exclusive stories and interviewing presidents and prime ministers. He made his name as a front of camera reporter covering the news as it happened not only at home in Ireland but also on the International scene. During his career as a news journalist he reported on the upheavals of the Haughey/Fitzgerald years: Irish prime minister Charlie Haughey even once said jokingly that he was his favourite reporter. He also covered the formation of the Progressive Democrats; Labour's Spring tide in 1992 and the governments of Albert Reynolds, John Bruton and Bertie Ahern. For over ten years from the start of the peace process in Northern Ireland Charlie Bird was RTE's contact with the IRA. He was one of a number of journalists who met with leading republicans in the lead-up to the 1994 and 1997 ceasefire declarations. In 1998 Charlie Bird along with his colleague George Lee were awarded Journalist of the Year for their work in exposing wrong doing at National Irish Bank. In a landmark Supreme Court Judgment (Friday 20th March 1998) in the lead up to the Broadcast of the NIB stories, by a majority of three to two, the Supreme Court decided the public's right to know was judged more important then National Irish Bank's right to protect the confidential relationship with its customers. An editorial in the Irish Times newspaper welcomed the court decision which, it said, represented: 'A significant tilt by the courts in favour of press freedom.... An encouraging signal that it (the Supreme Court) also recognises that the public interest can be served by investigative journalism... The Supreme Court ruling should concentrate the minds of policy makers. They have obdurately refused to amend the State's penal libel laws and seem content with a situation in which journalists operate within one of the most restrictive legal environments in the developed world.' Charlie was subsequently involved in Ireland's longest libel case. RTE and Charlie Bird won the case which had been taken by the Fianna Fail TD, Beverley Cooper Flynn. After that Charlie investigated a number of other bankings scandals including one involving foreign exchange over charging at Allied Irish Bank (AIB). In January 2009 he took up the post of Washington Correspondent with RTE News. He covered the election of President Obama and his historic inauguration in Washington which was attended by over two million people.
Download or read book The British and Peace in Northern Ireland written by Graham Spencer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-12 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the British Government and Civil Service shape the Northern Ireland peace process? What kind of tensions and debates were being played out between the two governments and the various parties in Northern Ireland? Addressing texts, negotiations, dialogues, space, leverage, strategy, ambiguity, interpersonal relations and convergence, this is the first volume to examine how senior British officials and civil servants worked to bring about power-sharing in Northern Ireland. With a unique format featuring self-authored inside accounts and interview testimonies, it considers a spectrum of areas and issues that came into play during the dialogues and negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and political accommodation in Northern Ireland. This book provides a compelling insight into what actually happened inside the negotiating room and how the British tried to shape the course of negotiations.
Download or read book Rule breakers Why Being There Trumps Being Fair in Ireland written by Niamh Hourigan and published by Gill & Macmillan Ltd. This book was released on 2015-03-20 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ireland is a nation on a value system that equates 'being good' with 'being there for each other'. As a society we favour 'minding our own' over 'doing what we're told'. So far, so Irish.It's become a commonplace to refer to the excesses of the Celtic Tiger years as an aberration, the product of a short-lived and inexplicable mania for cheap credit and unregulated consumption. But what if the roots of Ireland's economic crisis ran far deeper than the property boom or the hubris of the establishment elites who enabled it?In this, a ground-breaking survey of the Irish national character from its colonial history to its current day dramas, acclaimed sociologist Niamh Hourigan draws on a wealth of new and compelling research to reveal the fundamental conflict at the heart of the Irish society: that between our traditional faith in the politics of intimacy, all handshakes and favours, and the ruling systems in which we've invested power.The Ireland that emerges from her research is a country where outcomes are decided by who rather than what you know, and where – for good or for bad – rules are very much made to be broken.'Probing, perceptive and highly readable exploration of the Irish value system'J. J. Lee, New York University'Compulsively readable'Kathy Sheridan, The Irish Times'Lucid, engaging and persuasive ... every politician should read this – and so should every voter'Colin Murphy, The Guarantee
Download or read book One Party Dominance written by Sean McGraw and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-21 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fianna Fáil was for most of the 20th century the democratic world’s most successful political party. It dominated the politics of Ireland from 1932, when it first took power, until 2011 when it became a prominent electoral victim of the Great Recession. This book provides original research that explains how Fianna Fáil became dominant and managed its coalitions of support to maintain that position for eight decades. It gathers prominent political scientists who focus on a variety of factors including its ideological flexibility, control of state resources and the venue for decision making, the party’s leadership, its organisation and communications strategies. In addition the book takes a comparative approach to understanding the position of dominant parties in democratic countries, and uses empirical data to understand the sources of its support and decline. It is a book that will be of interest not only to scholars of Ireland, but also to those who wish to understand the sources of power of dominant political parties and the impact of the Great Recession on democratic politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of Irish Political Studies.
