Standing by the Republic

From the debates of the 1950s that were strikingly similar to what we face today—struggles against bankruptcy, emigration and abuse of power by the State—through the wars in the 70s and 80s about divorce, abortion and to the Jacobean dramas surrounding the fall of Haughey in the 1990s, this book finally traces the fall of the first Republic via the tragic-comic dénouement of the Cowen era and the first breaths of hope provided by a new administration.

John Drennan captures the fascinating story of Ireland’s evolution in the seven decades since the end of the war and encapsulates the culture that shaped these moments of national drama.

Dail Eireann is the crucible where great debates shape the future of the state and tell us where we are now and where we are going. Here John Drennan analyses fifty of the most dramatic and important such debates since the establishment of the Republic in 1948.