Pandemonium: leaks and learnings behind scenes of Covid response – The Irish Times

Pandemonium: Power, Politics and Ireland’s Pandemic was published on May 5th, just a few weeks after most Covid restrictions in the State had been lifted, and days after the Department of Health stopped announcing daily Covid statistics. As such, the book is timely and comprehensive in its coverage of the pandemic.

It also delivers what it promises; that is, “the inside story of Ireland’s pandemic: every decision, every player, every text, every leak”. The book covers the two-year period from January 2020 (starting with a prophetic email from Kevin Cunningham to then taoiseach Leo Varadkar about the novel coronavirus, stating “It is important to understand that the future is not like the past”) to the relaxing of restrictions with the Omicron variant in February 2022.