A State of Emergency

The incendiary untold story of Ireland’s response to the most significant public health emergency of the past century, woven from a wealth of original research and dozens of interviews with ministers, politicians, public health experts, essential workers, and ordinary people on whom the crisis exacted a personal toll.

Ranging from the halls of Government Buildings, where a new Cabinet riven by personal acrimony found itself beset by a series of unprecedented crises, to the frontlines of the containment effort itself, where medical practitioners and the communities they serve were pushed to breaking point, A Year Unlike Any Other is a landmark work of investigative journalism and the defining account of an extraordinary time in Irish history.

Reviews

‘Absolutely RIVETING’ – Marian Keyes

‘The last thing I thought I would want to read at the end of 2021 was a book about Covid-19 … I was wrong. At times it reads like a thriller with larger-than-life characters we all think we know, who are all just human in the end.’ – Rick O’Shea

‘An absolutely fascinating read’ – Claire Byrne

About the author

As the News Correspondent with Virgin Media News, Richard Chambers is one of Ireland’s most recognisable and respected broadcast journalists, whose coverage of the pandemic has earned widespread acclaim. Prior to joining Virgin Media in 2018, he spent five years as a reporter with Newstalk FM. A State of Emergency is his first book.