Did That Actually Happen?

Book excerpt: Remember the time Ray Burke had trees planted for a by-election, then uprooted them when he lost? Remember the time Brian Cowen went on radio with a voice like Barry White, leading everyone to think he spent the night before on the black stuff? Or remember the time Pee Flynn told us a story of three house, six-figure woe and asked us all to 'try it some time'? Politics is a strange business at the best of times, but Irish politics seems to have a special kind of strangeness about it, so much so that you often have to wonder, 'Did That Actually Happen?' With characteristic wry humour, columnist and broadcaster Paddy Duffy recounts the ridiculous but true stories that make Irish politics what it is: intriguing, amusing and completely daft as a brush. If you're looking for a book that gets to the heart of our political system and offers solutions for the future, then you're probably in the wrong section. No navel-gazing, just belly-laughing.