In Bed with the Blueshirts

The definitive inside account of the 2016-20 coalition government.


Cabinet minister Shane Ross reveals the bitter internal battles fought with the old Blueshirts, the crises when the coalition came close to collapse and the sometimes fraught personal relationships between the fifteen figures who made up the last government.


He recounts how a group of Independents risked everything to form a government that was expected to last for only months but which ran for more than four years, under two Taoisigh with utterly different styles. With great humour and charm, Ross unveils the skulduggery, the secret deals, the drama of how Irish football was rescued and Olympic chief Pat Hickey toppled, showing us what really happens behind the closed doors of Ireland's government.