INSIDE
THE ROOM
Dedicated to my wife, Carol Hanney, and to our three children,
Gráinne, Oisín and Seán.
INSIDE
THE ROOM
THE UNTOLD STORY OF
IRELAND’S CRISIS GOVERNMENT
EAMON GILMORE
Published in 2016 by
Merrion Press
8 Chapel Lane
Sallins
Co. Kildare
© 2016 Eamon Gilmore
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
978-1-78537-034-2 (paper)
978-1-78537-035-9 (cloth)
978-1-78537-036-6 (PDF)
978-1-78537-045-8 (Epub)
978-1-78537-046-5 (Kindle)
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 5
THE LONELIEST DAY
CHAPTER 6
PROJECT RED
CHAPTER 7
BATTLES OVER BUDGETS
CHAPTER 8
GLOBAL IRISH JOBS
CHAPTER 9
SAVING THE EURO
CHAPTER 10
THE GOODEST COUNTRY
CHAPTER 11
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORM
CHAPTER 12
HANDS OF HISTORY
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
THE LAST WEEKENDS
CHAPTER 15
REFLECTING ON RECOVERY
EPILOGUE
SALLY GLEN ROAD
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
After I had stepped down as Labour Party Leader and had been removed from government office, several friends suggested that I should write about my time in office, and especially about Ireland’s recovery from the crisis. I want to thank them for their encouragement, without which I would not have started this task in the first place.
Getting the project to publication depended on the work of several people: my agent Peter O’Connell; Paul O’Connor who edited my first draft; Conor Graham, Lisa Hyde and all at Merrion Press who brought the book to fruition, and especially my staff Aideen Blackwood and Sharon Gibbons who laboured with it at every step.
This book is my story of Ireland’s crisis government. It is inevitably subjective, but I have made every effort to ensure that it is factually accurate.
While it is my own personal recollection of the years from 2007 to 2014, it tells of a journey which I travelled with a dedicated, committed and loyal team.
My Chief of Staff Mark Garrett was a former Chairperson of Labour Youth, who had worked in public relations, and was a management consultant with McKinsey in New York, when I asked him to come home to head up my team, after I was elected Leader of the Labour Party in 2007.
Dr Colm O’Reardon, was employed by Ruairi Quinn in 2001, when he was Leader, to be Economic Advisor to the Labour Party. He remained on with Pat Rabbitte and was Labour’s Director of Policy during our years in opposition. I appointed him as my Principal Policy Advisor in Government, and he served with me on the Economic Management Council.
Jean O’Mahony had worked as a policy advisor for the Labour Party since 2006. She was an indispensable part of our team in Government, covering the broad range of policy issues coming before Cabinet.
Cathy Madden, who had worked as a radio journalist with Newstalk, came to work for Labour at the end of 2010. I appointed her as Deputy Government Press Secretary shortly after the formation of the new Government. When Cathy went on maternity leave in 2013, I brought in former Labour TD Derek McDowell, to fill this role.
Niamh Sweeney had worked as a journalist for RTE, the Irish Times and Bloomberg, and was based in New York when I asked her to return home to work for me in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
David Leach was a former Treasurer of the Labour Party who managed his own construction company. Mark Garrett brought him in to manage the Local and European Election campaign in 2009 and subsequently I appointed him as national organiser and as Political Director of the Party. My successor subsequently appointed him as the Party’s General Secretary.
Karen Griffin had worked for the Irish Family