inside story of how fianna fail rode a tiger
SHOWTIME! THE INSIDE STORY OF FIANNA FAIL IN POWER Pat Leahy (Penguin, €14.99)
Saturday October 03 2009
Showtime! is a vigorous, breathless account of Fianna Fail in power -- spanning the period from the catastrophe that ensued after Albert Reynolds misjudged Desmond O'Malley's mettle, plunging us into the disastrous election of 1992, to Brian Cowen's stewardship, which has brought Fianna Fail's support to an unimaginable low point.
Between, the book concentrates on Bertie Ahern's undoubted skills in power and his puzzling, contradictory political character -- as he galloped along on the back of the Celtic Tiger. The title, Showtime!, refers to the launch of the party's 2002 election campaign by PJ Mara, in the Shelbourne Hotel, which is the high point in Pat Leahy's swift and sure-footed political story.
That same pivotal chapter, however, follows a far more significant one entitled 'Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright', which gives an analysis of Charlie McCreevy in Finance -- taking the reins of power in this most significant of departments. It is an astonishing picture of radical, right-wing economic politics being operated with bold but at times misguided independence by a man who was never even invited to be Finance Minister by Bertie Ahern.
He fumbled his way into the job and then sent shockwaves through the senior officials in the department, beginning with the decision -- which McCreevy made on his own without discussing it with anyone except, possibly, Mary Harney -- to halve the country's capital gains tax, down to 20pc. He discussed little with Ahern. He delivered his budget speeches, already printed, to the party leader in his constituency offices and the Taoiseach would nod them through. This chapter is an astonishing account of how modern politics at its most sensitive has worked in this country. As well as outlining the skill, if that is the word, with which McCreevy constructed the Celtic Tiger, it gives an uncritical account of what will go down in history as the worst disaster of the whole period -- joining the Euro having drastically reduced interest rates. This was a decision that fell foul of the disgraceful fact that the department did not have an economists unit.
The chapter is compelling. So is the book. Political writers and historians once saw journalists as people who provided some first-hand material for them to restructure and make sense of. The present era does not require that.
Pat Leahy has made a book that makes one laugh and weep, and it is enough. Hovering between farce and melodrama, the story ends in the catastrophe of the public being conned and the politicians making innumerable mistakes. We are left on the brink of chaos.
Irish Independent
