Under the Rainbow

Inside John Bruton's coalition government

From late 1994 to June 1997 Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left were a coalition government led by John Bruton, arguably the most left-wing government in the history of the state. Shane Kenny provides the reader with the ultimate fly-on-the-wall insider account of this crucial period in Irish politics: one which contained highly significant breakthroughs in the Northern Ireland peace process, the most high-profile murder in the history of the state (Veronica Guerin), the establishment of the ‘payments to politicians’ tribunal which finally exposed the sources of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey’s wealth, and a divorce referendum which heralded a changing Ireland.

This is also a story of tragedy, both political and human; of those who died and were injured needlessly by the resumption of IRA violence; of a government with good potential which fell; of timing which was wrong, and of an economic disaster that could have been averted, or at least substantially mitigated.

‘John Bruton showed that Coalition Government works. Here’s the proof.’ Enda Kenny

"In this enthralling memoir of the Rainbow coalition, its press secretary, Shane Kenny, writes that the excitement of being on the inside was intense. We feel that intensity throughout this compelling book as Kenny takes us inside the complexity and tension of the Northern Ireland peace talks, the drama of the divorce referendum, the tragedy of the Hepatitis C scandal, and the lost election of 1997. In these riveting pages we get the rows, the leaks, the showdowns and the deals of a coalition which did much to shape modern Ireland but has received little of the credit." Gary Murphy

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