An education : how an outsider became an insider - and learned what really goes on in Irish government / John Walshe.

1.An offer I couldn\'t refuse -- 2.Hitting the ground runnin g-- 3.Poacher-turned gamekeeper -- 4.The corridors of power -- 5.Getting the bishops onside -- 6.Making the cuts -- 7.Leaking, kite-flying, spinning and u-turning -- 8.Progress comes, dropping slow -- 9.Slowing down the points race -- 10.The St. Valentine\'s Day Massacre -- 11.The ever-expanding elephant in the room -- 12.Maximum plucking, minium hissin g-- 13.Cheese off with FAþS -- 14.Fee-paying schools under pressure -- 15.The biggest shake-up ever of school-entrance rules -- -16. Taþ seþ ag eþisteacht -- 17.Megaphone diplomacy -- 18.Looking for the quick wins -- 19.Revolt over special-needs cuts -- 20.Rural Ireland fights back -- 21.Calling time -- 22.Goodbye to all that.

After over forty years in national journalism, John Walshe thought he had seen and heard it all. That was until he got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work in government and see how decisions are really made. Having spent most of his career as an education correspondent, Walshe did not have to think twice about accepting incoming education minister Ruairi Quinn's invitation to become his special adviser. So in a matter of weeks he found himself in the seat of power in Government buildings and up close and personal with some of the country most powerful decision-makers. It was heady stuff. 'An Education' is John Walshe's revealing, surprising and entertaining inside account of what it's like be part of a government trying to get to grips with a country and an economy in free-fall.