More to Mara than just clever soundbites and witty ripostes

The FF handler was the most effective campaign manager in Irish political history

Mara with the two taoisigh he served, Charles Haughey and Bertie Ahern, at a press conference in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel during the 1989 general election campaign

PJ Mara was the most effective campaign manager in our political history. This much has been said repeatedly in the last two days and is acknowledged even by those who resented his success.

Less well understood is why he was so successful. The answer isn’t to be found in the ‘Showtime’ caricature or lazy references to Svengali-like abilities. His campaigns were professional, modern and based on an enormous amount of work neither noticed ...