Dissident TD plans 'insider's account'

A BOOK by outspoken Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness promising “an insider’s account of dysfunction and waste in the Irish political and administrative system” is to be published in November.

Mr McGuinness, a TD for Carlow-Kilkenny who was sacked as a minister of State by Taoiseach Brian Cowen last year, has written a mix of “political memoir”, analysis of “where the country has gone wrong” and “suggestions” about how to overcome the political and economic crisis.

He said at the weekend he was "finalising" the 256-page paperback, entitled The House Always Wins, and it would be launched in Kilkenny on November 6th .

The phrase "the house always wins" is traditionally used to describe the odds facing gamblers in a casino. The subtitle of the book is: Time To Turn The Tables.

Publisher Gill Macmillan described Mr McGuinness as “well known for his no-nonsense approach to politics”.

The book is co-authored by Naoise Nunn, a former activist in the now disbanded Libertas organisation established by businessman Declan Ganley, which campaigned for a No vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendums. Mr Nunn, however, supported the Yes side in the second referendum last year.

Mr McGuinness said Mr Nunn did not work for him but was “a friend” who had “assisted in the writing” of the book.

Mr McGuinness was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1997. In the 2007 general election, he headed the poll in Carlow-Kilkenny with more than 17 per cent of first-preference votes and was re-elected on the first count. Then taoiseach Bertie Ahern appointed him to a junior ministry at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, where he had special responsibility for trade and commerce.

He lost the job in April last year when Mr Cowen cut the number of Ministers of State from 20 to 15.

Two nights later Mr McGuinness claimed on RTÉ's Late Late Showthat Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, then minister for enterprise, was "not equipped to deal with the complex issues of dealing with enterprise and business within the department and neither is the department."

He declined to comment on the controversy surrounding Mr Cowen, saying his views on the leadership were “already well known”.