€ 24.99 Save €5.00 (RRP €29.99)
ISBN: 9781804442685
The two opposing political personalities that shaped Irish life in the 1980s and
beyond.
In 1980s Irish politics was dominated by a fierce rivalry between Charlie Haughey
and Garret Fitzgerald, both leaders of their respective parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. Between them they swapped the Taoiseach position like a tennis ball; to say their two opposing personalities shaped Irish life during this era is an
understatement.
Eoin O'Malley has amassed an extraordinary body of original research: in-depth
interviews with dozens of the most consequential public figures of the past six
decades, including every Taoiseach, cabinet members, elected officials, civil
servants, journalists, and public figures.
As political rivals with radically different approaches to public life and contrasting
visions for Ireland, each enshrined in wildly divergent personalities, the choice
between Haughey and Fitzgerald came to signify a great deal more than party
loyalty or policy preference; it felt like a choice between opposing worldviews. And, as Eoin's work finally makes clear through an accumulation of extraordinary
insights, including interviews with Haughey and Fitzgerald themselves, it was fed by a deep reservoir of personal insecurity and paranoia. Each was deeply preoccupied - obsessed, even - with the strengths and appeal of the other, to the extent that this anxiety itself became one of the decisive factors in Irish life.
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Date of Publication: 18/09/2025