Pub GuideIntelligencer 15 - 21 Oct 2008
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Coogan Tells All
AUTHOR Tim Pat Coogan, former editor of the Irish Press, has a new autobiography out, simply entitled A Memoir, which contains many interesting nuggets about his work on the peace process.
Coogan quite simply is the world's leading authority on the IRA, and his book is a fascinating insight into how the peace process came about. It is available for sale on Amazon.
The book reveals for the first time that it was Coogan who was chosen by peace process priest Father Alec Reid to make the initial contact with the Irish government on behalf of Sinn Fein.
Reid is the unsung hero of the process, a Belfast priest who first put together the Irish government, Sinn Fein and the SDLP. He deputized Coogan to go and speak with then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charles Haughey, who had been throwing shapes about getting involved.
As Coogan relates it, Haughey was suspicious at first of any overture from Sinn Fein but gradually warmed up when the contact continued. He was in opposition at the time, but the Sinn Fein leadership clearly felt that he was somewhat sympathetic to them.
It is hard to put into context just how vital that first contact was. Without the Irish government there was no possibility of any progress.
As Coogan delineates, the Fine Gael/Labor government of Garret FitzGerald would never have countenanced an approach from Sinn Fein as Fianna Fail did.
When Haughey came into power, as Coogan relates, he proved a disappointment and it was not until Albert Reynolds replaced him that the real work began.
Coogan speculates that the British Intelligence services had something on Haughey, perhaps evidence of his corruption which would only emerge years later. He may well have been right as Haughey was certainly far more timorous in office than he might have been.
How Adams Decided
COOGAN traces the Adams evolution towards politics away from war to a car journey in 1985 that Adams and two senior Sinn Fein officials, Tom Hartley and Jim Gibney, undertook.
