Paddy Duffy Books

Ireland: A country of 13-verse-long ballads, outspoken lunatics, strongly held trivial opinions and friendly exchanges about the day's names in the death notices. A place where flattened fizzy drink is treated as a medical panacea, and where celebration can be squeezed out of anything from a major sporting victory, to a valiant quarter-final exit. From Fionn MacCumhail to the FAI, Do You Know Who's Dead? is a hilarious celebration of all things unmistakably Irish, as it describes our distinguishing features - big and small - in politics, music, culture, sport and more. If you find it hard to end a phone call, have ever driven several miles out of your way for slightly cheaper petrol, or spend just a little too long surveying the death notices, this is the book for you.

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.