The Life of the Journalist by Deaglán de Bréadún: Brian Cowen 8 September 2016 – Posted in: Uncategorised

I am very grateful to former Taoiseach Brian Cowen for agreeing to launch my new book,Cinnlínte (‘Headlines’) at Hodges Figgis in Dublin on September 20th. The subtitle of the book (published by Cois Life) is ‘Saol an Iriseora’ (‘The Life of the Journalist’) and in its dozen or so chapters I give a description of various adventures I had while covering the news at home and abroad. As usual with journalists, I pay special attention to stories I obtained on an exclusive basis, including the day in January 2011 when I received advance notice from a trusted source that Mr Cowen was about to announce his resignation as leader of the Fianna Fáil party, prior to stepping down as Taoiseach after the forthcoming general election.
In the book I also describe covering a visit he made to the Middle East back in 2001 when Mr Cowen was Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was on the road to Gaza City to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat when the news broke about the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. I was in another car in the motorcade and my book describes how Cowen’s vehicle came to a sudden halt while a discussion took place on whether to go ahead with the meeting or not. A decision was taken to proceed and I can still remember how Arafat’s lips were trembling like a leaf when he and Cowen spoke to the media afterwards.