FORMER Irish cabinet minister Eoghan Murphy was elected as a Fine Gael councillor in 2009 for Pembroke Rathmines at the age of 27. Within two years, he became TD for Dublin South East.
A promising, forensic and intelligent backbench TD, he built his reputation during the banking inquiry.
Murphy came to the attention of the then taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and was appointed a junior minister at the Department of Finance under Fine Gael veteran, Michael Noonan. He was 35 and on the up.
After masterminding Leo Varadkar’s pathway to the leadership of Fine Gael, Murphy at 36 was rewarded with a post at the cabinet table - as Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. Along with the health portfolio, housing was fraught with landmines.
Before reaching his 40th birthday, the aspiring politician announced his surprise resignation - burnt out, exhausted and swamped by the political challenges surrounding his brief. He had narrowly survived two no confidence votes in the Dáil but it was the collapse in his own self-confidence which ultimately made him decide to call it a day.
Politics is a blood sport and not for the faint hearted, as even this former apparatchik knows
It was a big call for a young Turk who appeared to be on the cusp of greater things - a bigger call even than running for public office so enthusiastically back in 2009. In 11 short years, his political career was over.
In the past, Dáil Éireann was full of lifers, like Enda Kenny, the Cowen brothers, Mary O’Rourke, Bertie Ahern and Richard Burton. Even Simon Coveney, who at only 52 years young, has spent half his life in the in the Dáil.
But of late, younger politicians seem less keen on staying the course.
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Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar coveted the top job in Irish politics and eagerly grabbed it with two hands at the age 38, only to run out of steam and vacate the post seven years later at 45. Closer to home, Colum Eastwood became SDLP leader at 31, only to stand down at 41.
So what does make a modern politico tick? What motivates them to run for office? How equipped are they for the rough and tumble of political discourse? Or indeed the relentless taunting by the media and the 24/7 haranguing by social media marionettes.
Murphy has penned his thoughts and reflections about his time in public office. Running from Office - Confessions of Ambition and Failure in politics is no ‘poor me’ type of biography. It’s neither an apologia for mistakes nor a cry for sympathy. But it will win the author a few hugs.
Unusually for a political memoir, it’s searingly honest. Perhaps too brutal, as Murphy is very hard on himself.
Politics is a blood sport and not for the faint hearted, as even this former apparatchik knows. There are no true friends in politics. It’s a competitive and self-absorbing game often played by those with low emotional intelligence, huge self-regard and very little self-awareness.
Whilst often being accused of being the ‘posh boy’ in the cabinet or being uncaring and unconnected by his opponents, in Running from Office Murphy demonstrates an immense level of self-awareness with a deep emotional well to draw on, particularly from his close knit family.
It has become almost normal to subject politicians to intense and extreme forms of unwarranted and undeserved personal abuse
Self-deprecating humour is peppered all over the pages. Murphy shares intimate moments of his private life - not that much was private as a politician in the eye of a storm. He delves into failed personal relationships, the feeling of isolation and at times of being so overwhelmed. He courageously admits to irresponsible behaviour edging towards a breakdown, and how he discovered his way to recovery was to sever ties with politics.
The late, Paddy O’Hanlon, former SDLP MP for South Armagh, once told this writer: “Politics will exploit and expose whatever personal weaknesses there are to be found in its practitioners.” And it’s so true, whether that weakness is gambling, alcohol, sex, corruption, grift or ruthless ambition. Even some of our most inspiring politicians privately struggled with demons.
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Thanks to this narrative from Murphy, we can also include the toll on a person’s mental health. It has become almost normal to subject politicians to intense and extreme forms of unwarranted and undeserved personal abuse - and worse still, we expect them to take it.
Young people, and in particular young males are told it is good to talk. Murphy, by sharing his deepest fears, he sets out both the warning signs of poor mental health and a way to work through it. He lays bare his vulnerabilities which because of the machismo nature of politics most politicians would shy away from.
The youngest ever US President was Teddy Roosevelt, who entered the White House at the age of just 42. Roosevelt wrote: “I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do. That’s character.”
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However, Murphy did care about what others thought he could do and measured that against what he thought he could do about it. The character of the ex-minister shines through as earnest, reflective and without bitterness or regrets.
In the end, this is a book about ambition, achievements, humiliations, adversity and self-discovery. It’s a must-read for anyone aspiring to a political career.
Eoghan Murphy - Running From Office is published by Eriu, a Bonnier Books UK company, and is available now
