Brian Cowen still feeling hard done by as biography seeks to set record straight on banks, bailout and beers

The publication of Prof Gary Murphy’s Brian Cowen : Anatomy of a Taoiseach brings forward the perspectives and recollections of the former taoiseach of a tumultuous period which changed Irish politics.

Murphy’s book is a different type of undertaking to his massive biography of Charles Haughey , for which he had access to all of Haughey’s extensive papers and interviewed many of those who had worked with and against the former taoiseach.

For this book, Murphy relied on an extensive series of interviews with Cowen and while it does not shirk from criticism of the politician, it tells much of the story from his perspective. Cowen invited Murphy to his home because he had read his Haughey biography and thought it “fair, thorough and revealing” - perhaps he hoped for the same himself. Anyway, the project grew from there.