New book on life of Brian Cowen to be launched in Tullamore this Friday
Brian Cowen: Anatomy of a Taoiseach, by political scientist and author Gary Murphy, will be launched at the Tullamore Court Hotel on this Friday, 25 September at 7.00pm
A major new book examining the life and political career of former Taoiseach and Offaly TD Brian Cowen will be officially launched in Tullamore this week.
Brian Cowen: Anatomy of a Taoiseach, by political scientist and author Gary Murphy, will be launched at the Tullamore Court Hotel on Friday, 25 September at 7.00pm, with well-known Offaly historian Michael Byrne attending as guest speaker.
The choice of Tullamore for the launch is particularly fitting given Brian Cowen’s lifelong connection with County Offaly and the extraordinary political career that began here more than four decades ago.
Born in Clara in 1960, Brian Cowen studied law at University College Dublin and qualified as a solicitor. Following the death of his father, Bernard Cowen TD, he contested the Laois-Offaly by-election in 1984 and was elected to Dáil Éireann at the age of just 24, becoming the youngest member of the 24th Dáil.
He went on to serve in some of the most demanding offices in Irish Government. He was appointed Minister for Labour in 1992 and subsequently served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Minister for Health and Children, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Finance. He became Tánaiste in 2007 while continuing as Minister for Finance.
His four years as Minister for Foreign Affairs placed him at the centre of efforts to implement and sustain the Good Friday Agreement during a difficult period for the Northern Ireland peace process. He worked closely with the British Government and the political parties in Northern Ireland as efforts continued to restore the political institutions and address issues including decommissioning and the implementation of the Agreement.
During Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union in 2004, he also served as President of the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council, representing the European Union internationally during a significant period in its development.
In April 2008, Brian Cowen was elected leader of Fianna Fáil and on 7 May was elected Taoiseach by Dáil Éireann. He served as Ireland’s 12th Taoiseach until March 2011.
His period as Taoiseach coincided with one of the most difficult periods in the history of the State. The global financial crisis, the collapse of the banking system and the dramatic deterioration in the public finances confronted his Government with decisions of a scale few Irish governments had ever faced.
Many of those decisions came at an enormous political cost. Cowen and his Government introduced deeply difficult measures to stabilise the public finances, restructure the banking system and restore Ireland's international credibility. While the consequences were painful and remain the subject of debate, those decisions helped create a pathway towards the recovery that followed.
For Brian Cowen personally, the political price was immense. He pursued measures which he knew would be deeply unpopular and ultimately damaging to both his own political career and his party. Whatever judgement history makes on individual decisions taken during those extraordinary years, his willingness to put what he believed to be the national interest ahead of his own political future is an important part of the story of his time as Taoiseach.
Gary Murphy’s Brian Cowen: Anatomy of a Taoiseach revisits that remarkable political journey and some of the most consequential events in modern Irish political history.
The launch will also have a particularly strong Offaly dimension with Michael Byrne as guest speaker. A solicitor, author and long-standing promoter of local history, Michael is General Secretary of the Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society and has written and edited extensively on the history of Tullamore and County Offaly.