The Power Game: Fianna Fáil Since Lemass

This volume charts the bitter struggle for power in Fianna Fáil since the resignation of Sean Lemass in November 1966. For most of that period, the party lurched from one convulsion to another. Since Lemass stepped down, Fianna Fáil has had four leaders: Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey, Albert Reynolds, and Bertie Ahern. What is remarkable is that each leader was dispatched, Mafia-style, by his successor, but the party stayed together. Stephen Collins tells the story of the struggle for power in Fianna Fáil, including the Arms Crisis, and the various heaves against Haughey and Ahern's shafting of Reynolds. He also explores the reasons for the party's enduring hold on the Irish electorate.