Pandemonium: Power, Politics and Ireland’s Pandemic

by Jack Horgan-Jones, Hugh O'Connell

Ireland’s lockdowns were harsher and longer than almost anywhere else in the developed world. The existential threat from the pandemic led to an unprecedented mass mobilization of the state’s institutions. As Ireland was battered by waves of disease time and again, unparalleled pressures and untold tensions emerged as the country went to war with Covid, and policymakers and politicians did battle with each other.

How were the key decisions made? Who held the power? As Ireland is convulsed with Covid, this book takes a seat at the table during the moments that mattered.

Forensically researched and told with clarity and force, this book examines a defining era. Boasting unrivaled access to the key decision-makers, and drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews and thousands of pages of unpublished and confidential documents, the authors reveal the moves, the power-plays and the – at times jaw-dropping – tactics of a government with the health of a nation in its hands.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

320 pages, Paperback

Published June 28, 2022

Reviews

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and insightful accout of Irish covid response

[Rob Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of Irelands battle with covid 19, the book is clearly well researched and gives an insight into what for many politicians must have been , the biggest challenge of their careers.
Egos, personality clashes, huge fall outs on policy. All happening when lives were being lost across the country. It was clearly a massive stressful time for everyone in the different departments, credit to them all.
Really worth sitting down and reading this I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

[Peter Thew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The well-researched story of Ireland's covid response. The authors have clearly done their homework and record and analyse the response to the unprecedented shutdown of society

[Daryl Feehely · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blow-by-blow account of the decision-making & political machinations of the Irish State during the Covid-19 pandemic. The book chronicles each twist and turn in the response to the crisis as it emerged, as well as including a retrospective aspect in places, with comments and interviews a year or so after.

An interesting documentation from the coal-face of Irish political journalism, which not only gives the reader the details behind each event, but also affords a bird's eye view of the crisis as a whole. The retrospective analysis is quite damning on the power-leak from government to NPHET, which perhaps could only be seen to its full extent now, after the fact.