Peter Murtagh: The "Irish Times" Book of the Year: 2006 [2006] hardback

"There is something disconcerting about gazing into the eyes of a dead man. It is even more chilling knowing that the person staring back across more than 2,000 years was brutally murdered. And yet dead men have tales to tell, none more so than Clonycavan Man, who appears this morning both as he is now - as a preserved bog body - and also as he was as a young man in his prime in early Iron Age Ireland." - Dick Ahlstrom. "If you care about Ireland's prospects of avoiding the creation of a ghettoised society, if you care about the future of the European Union, if you care about democracy, you have to care about Irish Ferries." - Fintan O'Toole. "For the first time since 1993, and only the second time in its history, the Booker Prize for Fiction has been won by an Irish writer. John Banville was declared the winner last night in London of this year's Man Booker with his novel "The Sea"." - Eileen Battersby. "So is Haughey's legacy all black? No, of course not. But it is very, very dark in parts and we exacerbate the damage he did in corrupting politics and public life by not squaring up to it.
By honouring him, as was done yesterday in the name of the people of Ireland, a signal was sent that the very great wrongs he committed were somehow not really all that serious." - Peter Murtagh. "The cheering began as soon as Darren arrived at the tee. And it grew and grew as he walked down the fairway. Perfect silence for the few minutes of play, then pandemonium again. Finally, the putt went in. The fans roared. For a moment, it seemed the golfer wasn't quite sure what was happening. He rubbed his eyes. Then suddenly, it all became too much. He embraced his caddy, and the tears came." - Miriam Lord. "Peace in Darfur looks much the same as war when viewed through the 80-year-old eyes of Klatuma Ali Mohamed. She squats in the doorway of her simple mud-plastered hut amid the sprawling misery of Abu Shouk camp for people displaced by three years of conflict, and explains that a two-month-old peace deal has made no difference to her life." - Rob Crilly. "A wealthy businessman, David McKenna, has been contacted by the Mahon tribunal about payments to the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.
The tribunal is investigating a number of payments to Mr Ahern in or around December 1993, including cash payments...Mr McKenna is one of three or four persons contacted by the tribunal concerning payments to Mr Ahern totalling between Euro50,000 and Euro100,000. The tribunal has been told that the money was used to pay legal bills incurred by Mr Ahern around this time." - Colm Keena. Also featuring stories by Roisin Ingle, Michael Dwyer, Rosita Boland, Lara Marlowe, Shane Hegarty, Mark Brennock, Tom Humphries and many more..."The Book of the Year 2006" is a compendium of the most engaging, witty, amusing and informed writing in "The Irish Times".