Just Garret: Tales from the Political Frontline

[9781907593239]

Featuring a new foreword by Fr Enda McDonagh who gave the eulogy at Dr FitzGerald's funeral, Just Garret also features highlights including previously unpublished childhood and family photographs. Just Garret is a personal and anecdotal autobiography in which Garret speaks candidly of his family life and his experience and estimation of the many national and international figures he encountered throughout his long career. In Just Garret, Dr FitzGerald writes frankly about his upbringing, his parents' involvement in the Independence movement and their disagreements about the Treaty, his early years in school and college and his gradual entry into politics. He reflects honestly on his time as minister for Foreign Affairs, and later as Taoiseach. The book includes new material and opinion on key figures such as Charles Haughey, Margaret Thatcher and John Major as well as the emerging peace in Northern Ireland and his role in how it came about. Ireland's role in the EU and Garret's advocacy in the referenda on the European Union also feature. The key importance of his family life and the huge influence his wife Joan had on his career reveal a more informal and humorous person who is still a compelling voice in Irish public affairs.