Cowen tries to rewrite his role in the crash

The former taoiseach broke cover last week with a rare public appearance, but plenty of people don’t want to see him back just yet

In the early aftermath of Fianna Fáil’s 2011 election wipeout, there was one thing that the party’s new leader Micheál Martin felt he needed to get out of the way early: the apology. And there was one man who he needed to help make it work. That man was Brian Cowen.

In the wake of the election, Martin’s predecessor had left politics in humiliating defeat. With the devastating loss of 58 seats, his ...