Brian Cowen#Golfgate: Meeting with Seán FitzPatrick

Brian Cowen was born to a Catholic family,[http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1203/1224259997261.html Cowen shows he is 'second an Irishman, first a Catholic'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121221333/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1203/1224259997261.html |date=21 November 2010 }}, The Irish Times, 3 December 2009 in Tullamore, County Offaly,{{cite web|url=http://www.fiannafail.ie/people/brian-cowen/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131064953/http://www.fiannafail.ie/people/brian-cowen/|archive-date=31 January 2010|title=Profile of Brian Cowen|work=Fianna Fáil website|access-date=7 May 2008}}Archived from Jan. 2010 on 10 January 1960. He was raised in Clara by his parents, May and Bernard Cowen,{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/this-is-better-than-offaly-winning-the-allireland-1342955.html|title=This is better than Offaly winning the All-Ireland|author=Brennan, Michael|work=Irish Independent|date=10 April 2008|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=14 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514164610/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/this-is-better-than-offaly-winning-the-allireland-1342955.html|url-status=live}} a Fianna Fáil TD and Senator. The family owned a public house, butcher shop and undertaking business in Clara, beside the family home. His father also worked as an auctioneer. Cowen often worked as a barman in his father's pub when he was growing up.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sometimes-nice-guys-do-finish-top-of-the-pile-1339210.html|title=Sometimes, nice guys do finish top of the pile|work=Irish Independent|date=5 April 2008|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=7 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080407220200/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sometimes-nice-guys-do-finish-top-of-the-pile-1339210.html|url-status=live}} He has two brothers, Christopher and Barry. Barry Cowen became a TD for Laois–Offaly in 2011.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/politics/cowens-brother-insists-brian-is-his-own-man-despite-ahern-legacy-1339330.html|title=Cowen's brother insists Brian 'is his own man' despite Ahern legacy|work=Irish Independent|date=5 April 2008|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=16 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516073752/http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/politics/cowens-brother-insists-brian-is-his-own-man-despite-ahern-legacy-1339330.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.offaly.ie/offalyhome/yourcouncil/Councillors/Offaly+County+Council/Tullamore/CllrBCowen.htm|title=Councillor Barry Cowen|work=Offaly.ie|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=18 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118202735/http://www.offaly.ie/offalyhome/yourcouncil/Councillors/Offaly+County+Council/Tullamore/CllrBCowen.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/property-plus/the-taoiseachs-triangle-1343716.html|title=The Taoiseach's Triangle|work=Irish Independent|author=Buckley, Donal|date=11 April 2008|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=2 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502042045/http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/property-plus/the-taoiseachs-triangle-1343716.html|url-status=live}}

Cowen was educated at Clara National School, Árd Scoil Naomh Chiaráin, in Clara and the Cistercian College of Mount St. Joseph in Roscrea, County Tipperary. He was twelve years old when he entered Mount St. Joseph College, as a boarder.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/spot-the-next-taoiseach-1366093.html|title=Spot the next Taoiseach|author=O'Doherty, Gemma|work=Irish Independent|date=3 May 2008|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=6 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506134351/http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/spot-the-next-taoiseach-1366093.html|url-status=live}} After secondary school, he attended University College Dublin where he studied law. He subsequently qualified as a solicitor from the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, Dublin.

He is a member of the Gaelic Athletic Association and continues to serve as president of Clara GAA club, for whom he played in the early 1980s. He also played with the Offaly Gaelic football team at this time, having previously played with their minor and under-21 teams.{{Cite web |date=2013-08-28 |title='It is a pity I finished my career in that way, but that's how it goes' |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/it-is-a-pity-i-finished-my-career-in-that-way-but-thats-how-it-goes/29532293.html |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=Independent.ie |language=en}} Cowen likes to socialise with his constituents in some of the local pubs in his native Offaly. In May 2003, he took part in a charity CD project organised by The Brewery Tap pub in Tullamore. The CD featured 28 songs, including Cowen singing the Phil Coulter song, "The Town I Loved So Well".{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0409/news1pm_av.html?2359605,null,209|title=Brian Cowen sings|work=RTÉ News|date=9 April 2008}}{{dead link|date=June 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite web|url=http://www.liveatthetap.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031030202440/http://www.liveatthetap.com/|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 October 2003|title=Live at the Tap|work=The Brewery Tap|access-date=4 April 2008}}

In May 2007, Cowen told Jason O'Toole of Hot Press that, as a student: "I would say there were a couple of occasions when marijuana was passed around – and, unlike President Clinton, I did inhale. There wasn't a whole lot in it really."{{Cite news|date=17 May 2007|title=Cowen: I did inhale|work=The Evening Echo}}{{cite news|url=http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2007/05/17/story311112.asp|title=Cowen admits to smoking marijuana|work=BreakingNews.ie|access-date=4 April 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625033154/http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2007/05/17/story311112.asp|archive-date=25 June 2008|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news|url=http://www.hotpress.com/archive/2926423.html?page_no=6&show_comments=1|last1=O'Toole|first1=Jason|title=The man who would be king|work=Hot Press|date=23 May 2007|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=19 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519025943/http://www.hotpress.com/archive/2926423.html?page_no=6&show_comments=1|url-status=live}}

Cowen is married to Mary Molloy and they have two daughters.{{cite news|url=http://www.offalyexpress.ie/local-authority-reports/The-Cowen-Dossier.3963806.jp|title=The Cowen Dossier|work=Offaly Express|access-date=9 April 2008|archive-date=26 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526013415/http://www.offalyexpress.ie/local-authority-reports/The-Cowen-Dossier.3963806.jp|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/cowen-feels-the-hand-of-history-1342900.html|title=Cowen feels the hand of history|author=Hand, Lise|work=Irish Independent|date=10 April 2008|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=14 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514164820/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/cowen-feels-the-hand-of-history-1342900.html|url-status=live}} In 2017, Cowen was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the National University of Ireland.

Cowen was elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1984 Laois–Offaly by-election, caused by the death of his father Bernard Cowen.{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3697|title=Brian Cowen|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=14 May 2009|archive-date=20 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520083418/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=3697|url-status=live}} At the time Cowen, at the age of 24, became the youngest member of the 24th Dáil. He was also elected to Offaly County Council in the same year, taking over the seat vacated by his late father. He served on that authority until 1992.

Cowen remained on the backbenches of Fianna Fáil for the next seven years. Following the 1989 general election when Fianna Fáil formed a coalition government, with the Progressive Democrats, for the first time, Cowen was one of several TDs who were vehemently opposed to the move. Two years later in November 1991, the then Minister for Finance, Albert Reynolds, challenged Charles Haughey, for the leadership of the party. Cowen firmly aligned himself behind Reynolds and quickly became associated with the party's so-called "Country and Western" wing (Reynolds's supporters earned this nickname because the vast majority were rural TDs and Reynolds had made a lot of money in the dance hall business in the 1960s). Reynolds became leader on his second attempt when Haughey was forced to retire as Taoiseach in 1992.

Reynolds appointed Cowen, aged 32, to his first cabinet position as Minister for Labour. Despite being a member of the cabinet, Cowen was openly hostile toward the PDs. This was evident at the Fianna Fáil party's Ardfheis in March 1992. In the warm-up speech before the leader's address, Cowen remarked, "What about the PDs? When in doubt, leave them out." He fought with the PDs, being furious at their interference with Fianna Fáil's view that, as majority partners, they should have wielded the power.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/the-strife-of-brian-1516021.html|title=The Strife of Brian|work=Irish Independent|date=1 November 2008|first=Bruce|last=Arnold|access-date=2 November 2008|archive-date=8 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108131541/http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/the-strife-of-brian-1516021.html|url-status=live}}

The 1992 general election produced a hung Dáil and resulted in negotiations between all the main parties. Cowen, along with Noel Dempsey and Bertie Ahern, negotiated on behalf of Fianna Fáil in an attempt to form a government with the Labour Party.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} A deal was reached between the two parties, and Cowen was again appointed Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications. In that role, he implemented the controversial decision to relax the so-called stopover at Shannon Airport, which allowed limited direct trans-Atlantic flights from Dublin Airport. The decision proved divisive and saw one Fianna Fáil TD, Síle de Valera, resign from the party in protest.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

In October 1994, it was revealed that Cowen had 1,000 shares in Arcon, a company to which he was in the process of awarding a mining licence. He quickly sold the shares and apologised in the Dáil for causing himself and his colleagues "some embarrassment".

{{cite book|title=This Great Little Nation – Cowengate|last1=Kerrigan|first1=Gene|last2=Brennan|first2=Pat|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|year=1999|pages=62–63|isbn=0-7171-2937-3}}

Later in 1994, Albert Reynolds resigned as Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil. Bertie Ahern became the new leader, and initially appeared set to replace Reynolds as Taoiseach. However, Labour chose to end the coalition with Fianna Fáil and took part in a new coalition with Fine Gael and Democratic Left, consigning Fianna Fáil to the opposition. Cowen was appointed to the front bench, first as Spokesperson on Agriculture, Food and Forestry (1994), and later as Spokesperson on Health (1997).{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

File:John_Gormley,_Brian_Cowen_and_Brian_Lenihan,_July_2010.jpg

When Fianna Fáil returned to the government following the 1997 general election, Cowen was appointed as Minister for Health and Children. He described his period there as like being in Angola because administrative "landmines" could detonate without warning.{{cite web|url=http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=4514|title=Heath – review of the year|author=Bowers, Fergal|work=IrishHealth.com|date=1 January 2003|access-date=22 May 2007|archive-date=20 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120060707/http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=4514|url-status=live}} During his tenure, he had to deal with problems of bed shortages and overcrowding in hospitals, as well as a prolonged nurses' strike in 1999.

In a cabinet reshuffle following the retirement of David Andrews in January 2000, Cowen was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs. His tenure saw extensive negotiations continue regarding the Northern Ireland peace process and other international activities, particularly when Ireland gained a place on the United Nations Security Council. In 2003, he was the subject of a personal attack by the leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley. In front of a crowd of party supporters and the presence of television cameras and radio reporters, Paisley uttered a diatribe about Cowen's appearance and also insulted his mother.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/hot-lips-cowen-rises-above-the-raving-reverend-490676.html|title=Hot Lips Cowen rises above the raving Reverend|work=Irish Independent|last=Nolan|first=Larissa|date=4 May 2003|access-date=4 April 2008|archive-date=16 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516073802/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/hot-lips-cowen-rises-above-the-raving-reverend-490676.html|url-status=live}} In 2004, Cowen played a key role during Ireland's Presidency of the European Council, during which and the European Union expanded from 15 to 25 member states.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}

Following the departure of Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy, upon his nomination as Ireland's European Commissioner in September 2004, Cowen was appointed as Minister for Finance. On 1 December 2004, he announced his first budget, one that was viewed as a give-away budget in which spending was increased by 9%.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/1201/budget.html|title=Cowen delivers Budget 2005 speech|work=RTÉ News|date=12 January 2004|access-date=4 April 2008|archive-date=16 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516064723/http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/1201/budget.html|url-status=live}}

Cowen's second budget in 2005 was dominated by a new childcare package, and measures to take 'tax-free millionaires' back into the tax net from 2007 by restricting tax breaks. A readjustment of income-tax measures was designed to take 52,000 low earners out of the tax net and remove 90,000 middle earners from the higher tax band.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2005/1208/1132330275705.html|title=Children gain as rich reined in|author=Beesley, Arthur|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=8 December 2005|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=23 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023193732/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2005/1208/1132330275705.html|url-status=live}}

Cowen's third budget in 2007, in anticipation of the 2007 general election, was regarded{{who|date=December 2011}} as one of the biggest spending sprees in the history of the state. The €3.7 billion package included increases in pension and social welfare allowances, a marked green agenda, as well as a reduction in the top rate of income tax from 42% to 41%. Cowen has been criticised for alleged complacency during the economic turmoil in January 2008.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/behind-the-smugness-is-a-clueless-brian-cowen-1275197.html|title=Behind the smugness is a clueless Brian Cowen|work=Irish Independent|author=Ruddock, Alan|date=27 January 2008|access-date=2 April 2008|archive-date=6 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406011105/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/behind-the-smugness-is-a-clueless-brian-cowen-1275197.html|url-status=live}}

File:Brian Cowen and President Barack Obama in a press conference.jpg Barack Obama with a bowl of shamrock for Saint Patrick's Day at the White House.]]

During his ministerial career, Cowen was often identified in the media as the front-runner to succeed Ahern as leader of Fianna Fáil.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/cowens-cowardice-is-cleverly-disguised-as-prudence-with-the-nations-budget-137568.html|title=Cowen's cowardice is cleverly disguised as prudence with the nation's budget|author=Ruddock, Alan|work=Irish Independent|date=3 December 2006|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=16 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516073700/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/cowens-cowardice-is-cleverly-disguised-as-prudence-with-the-nations-budget-137568.html|url-status=live}} Cowen's position was strengthened when he succeeded Mary O'Rourke as deputy leader of the party in 2002. In 2004, he was appointed Minister for Finance. Following the 2007 general election, Cowen became Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) in a coalition between Fianna Fáil, the PDs, and the Green Party.

On 4 April 2008, two days after Ahern announced his intention to resign as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil, Cowen was nominated by Brian Lenihan and Mary Coughlan to be his successor.{{cite web|url=http://fiannafail.ie/article.phpx?topic=151&id=8803&nav=News%20Item |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515183329/http://fiannafail.ie/article.phpx?topic=151&id=8803&nav=News%20Item |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 May 2008 |title=Nominated for FF leader: Statement by Mr. Brian Cowen TD |date=4 April 2008 |work=Fianna Fáil website |access-date=7 May 2008 }} The following day he was confirmed as the sole nominee for the position.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0406/breaking2.html|title=Cowen set to be elected Taoiseach|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=6 April 2008|access-date=7 May 2008|archive-date=23 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023193801/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0406/breaking2.html|url-status=live}} He was acclaimed as the seventh leader of Fianna Fáil on 9 April 2008,{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0409/fiannafail.html|title=FF elects Brian Cowen as leader|work=RTÉ News|date=9 April 2008|access-date=9 April 2008|archive-date=11 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411032531/http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0409/fiannafail.html|url-status=live}} and assumed office upon Ahern's resignation becoming effective on 6 May 2008.

On 7 May 2008, Cowen was nominated by Dáil Éireann as Taoiseach, by 88 votes to 76, and was appointed by President of Ireland Mary McAleese.

On 22 January 2011, despite winning a secret confidence motion the week before, Cowen announced he was stepping down as leader, in advance of the 2011 election, to put the party in "the best possible position".{{cite news |first=Shane |last=Harrison |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12259306 |title=Irish PM Brian Cowen steps down as Fianna Fail leader |website=BBC News |date=22 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=25 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125204120/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12259306 |url-status=live }}

Upon appointment, Cowen formed the 28th government of Ireland, a coalition between Fianna Fáil, the Greens and the PDs, which initially had the support of three independent TDs. His choices of Mary Coughlan for Tánaiste and Brian Lenihan Jnr as Minister for Finance were criticised as inappropriate by The Irish Times for their "distressing" lack of experience.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1029/1225197272087.html|title=Top three's lack of experience a liability|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=29 October 2008|access-date=31 October 2008|archive-date=23 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023193812/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1029/1225197272087.html|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008|Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland}}

The Irish electorate's rejection of the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon on 12 June 2008, was viewed by some media and political observers as a protest against Cowen and his government.{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/buck-stops-at-top-cowen-has-failed-his-first-big-test-1409571.html |title=Buck stops at top: Cowen has failed his first big test |work=Irish Independent |date=14 June 2008 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=8 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208060708/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/buck-stops-at-top-cowen-has-failed-his-first-big-test-1409571.html |url-status=live }} The Irish Independent called the failed referendum's aftermath the government's "biggest political crisis in decades".{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/lisbon-treaty/cowen-disaster-little-authority-and-no-leadership-1410607.html |title=Cowen disaster: little authority and no leadership |work=Irish Independent |date=15 June 2008 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=10 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210035217/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/lisbon-treaty/cowen-disaster-little-authority-and-no-leadership-1410607.html |url-status=live }} Columnist Brendan O'Connor called the outcome "a humiliating failure for Cowen and the people who put him there".{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/lisbon-treaty/cowen-disaster-little-authority-and-no-leadership-1410607.html|title=Cowen disaster: little authority and no leadership|work=Sunday Independent|date=15 June 2008|access-date=15 June 2008|archive-date=11 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211232547/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/lisbon-treaty/cowen-disaster-little-authority-and-no-leadership-1410607.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/its-all-too-easy-to-simply-blame-the-last-guy-in-the-job-1410374.html|title=It's all too easy to simply blame the last guy in the job|work=Irish Independent|date=15 June 2008|access-date=19 June 2008|archive-date=11 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211232732/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/its-all-too-easy-to-simply-blame-the-last-guy-in-the-job-1410374.html|url-status=live}} The Taoiseach himself arguably dealt a damaging blow to his own side when, on 12 May 2008, he admitted in a radio interview that he had not read the Treaty of Lisbon in its entirety.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-gafferidden-yes-campaign-spluttered-into-action-far-too-late-1410355.html|title=The gaffe-ridden 'Yes' campaign spluttered into action far too late|work=Sunday Independent|date=15 June 2008|access-date=15 June 2008|first=Ronald|last=Quinlan|archive-date=10 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210064611/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-gafferidden-yes-campaign-spluttered-into-action-far-too-late-1410355.html|url-status=live}} The treaty was eventually approved by Irish voters when the successful Twenty-eighth Amendment of the constitution was approved in the second Lisbon referendum, held in October 2009.

Cowen delivered the Irish government budget for 2009 on 14 October 2008, brought forward from its usual December date due to the 2008 financial crisis. The budget, labelled "the toughest in many years",{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1009/1223445618089.html|title=Ministers prepare for toughest budget in years|date=9 October 2008|access-date=7 January 2009|newspaper=The Irish Times|archive-date=25 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101025032320/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1009/1223445618089.html|url-status=live}} included several controversial measures, such as a proposed income levy and the withdrawal of previously promised HPV vaccines for schoolgirls. Other results of the budget included a new income levy being imposed on all workers above a specified threshold and the closure of several military barracks near the border with Northern Ireland.

A public outcry arose over the proposed withdrawal of medical cards and the reinstatement of university fees. A series of demonstrations ensued amongst teachers and farmers, whilst on 22 October 2008, at least 25,000 pensioners and students descended in solidarity on government buildings at Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin and outside the Department of the Taoiseach in Merrion Street. Some of the pensioners were even seen to cheer on the students as the protests passed each other on the streets of Dublin.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/1023/1224713994987.html?via=rel|title=Thousands march in day of anti-Budget protests|date=23 December 2008|access-date=7 January 2009|newspaper=The Irish Times|archive-date=21 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521175459/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/1023/1224713994987.html?via=rel|url-status=live}} Changes to education led to a ministerial meeting with three Church of Ireland bishops over what was viewed as a disproportionate level of cuts to be suffered by Protestant Secondary schools.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/ireland/mhidojideycw/|title=COI bishops to meet Education Minister over Budget cuts.|date=12 November 2008|access-date=7 January 2009|newspaper=Irish Examiner|archive-date=6 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306202216/http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/ireland/mhidojideycw/|url-status=live}} Separately representatives of the Roman Catholic Church were assured by O'Keeffe that it would continue to be able to provide religious instruction to pupils in primary schools not under the patronage of the Church.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1113/1226408582468.html|title=O'Keeffe reassures on religious instruction|date=13 November 2008|access-date=7 January 2009|newspaper=The Irish Times|archive-date=22 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022131553/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1113/1226408582468.html|url-status=live}}

Rebellion within the ranks of the government led to several defections of disenchanted coalition members. County Wicklow TD Joe Behan, resigned from the Fianna Fáil party in protests at the proposed medical card changes. He, alongside two other government deputies, later voted against his former colleagues in two crucial Dáil votes on medical cards and cancer vaccines. These defections reduced the Irish government's majority of twelve by one quarter. Finian McGrath, an Independent TD, who agreed to support the government after the 2007 election, also withdrew his support from the government. A senior political source said: "The Budget was an accident waiting to happen."{{cite news |author=Independent.ie |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/discontented-ministers-suppress-fury-1510534.html |title=Discontented ministers suppress fury |publisher=Independent.ie |date=26 October 2008 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=10 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210172408/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/discontented-ministers-suppress-fury-1510534.html |url-status=live }}

Under the European Union stability and growth pact, EU states are required to keep their budget deficit-to-GDP ratio below a three per cent limit and maintain a debt-to-GDP ratio below 60 per cent. On 31 October 2008, the European Commission opened an excessive deficit procedure against the Government of Ireland, for allowing its budget deficit to exceed the required EU deficit-to-GDP ratio of 3 per cent. The Irish deficit was expected to be 5.5 percent in 2008, and 6.5 percent in 2009.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1103/breaking37.htm |title=Commission takes action against Ireland over deficit |publisher=Irishtimes.com |date=11 November 2008 |access-date=12 June 2010}} This response forced reversals of proposed changes in several areas, contributing to a perceived weakness in his Government.{{cite news |author=If you want to get ahead... |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/taoiseach-talks-tough-then-does-third-uturn-1514643.html |title=Taoiseach talks tough, then does third U-turn |publisher=Independent.ie |date=31 October 2008 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=29 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429061108/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/taoiseach-talks-tough-then-does-third-uturn-1514643.html |url-status=live }}

On 6 December 2008, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland ordered the recall, withdrawal and destruction of all Irish pork products dating back to 1 September, due to the discovery of toxic levels of dioxin in a small percentage of the pig stock. Cowen additionally approved a five-day withdrawal of Irish pork from the market. Within days thousands of jobs were either lost or under threat at pig processing plants across the country, as processors refused to resume slaughter of pigs until they received financial compensation; the crisis ultimately cost taxpayers approximately €180 million.{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/john-drennan/theres-nothing-accidental-about-cowens-bad-karma-1574395.html |title=There's nothing accidental about Cowen's bad karma |work=Sunday Independent |date=14 December 2008 |access-date=14 December 2008 |archive-date=17 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217040313/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/john-drennan/theres-nothing-accidental-about-cowens-bad-karma-1574395.html |url-status=live }} Cowen's government received heavy criticism for overreaction in its handling of the incident,{{cite news|url=http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/frontline-listeners-put-the-pork-crisis-in-perspective-1573024.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111033707/http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/frontline-listeners-put-the-pork-crisis-in-perspective-1573024.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 January 2009 |title=Frontline listeners put the pork crisis in perspective |date=12 December 2008 |access-date=15 December 2008 |newspaper=Evening Herald }} with Leader of the Opposition Enda Kenny calling the government's response as "an unmitigated disaster".{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1210/breaking40.html?via=rel|title=Cowen 'confident' of pig processing agreement|date=10 December 2008|access-date=10 December 2008|newspaper=The Irish Times|archive-date=11 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111234503/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1210/breaking40.html?via=rel|url-status=live}}

The heavy exposure of Anglo Irish Bank to property lending, with most of its loan book being to builders and property developers, meant that it was badly affected by the downturn in the Irish property market in 2008.{{cite news |author=Insurance |url=http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/onetrick-commercial-loan-lender-came-unstuck-1603989.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527005141/http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/onetrick-commercial-loan-lender-came-unstuck-1603989.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 May 2012 |title=One-trick commercial loan lender came unstuck |publisher=Independent.ie |date=16 January 2009 |access-date=26 January 2011 }} On 15 January 2009, after attempting to salvage the Bank by injecting €1.5bn into its coffers, the Government announced that it would take steps that would enable the Bank to be taken into State ownership. The Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Act, of 2009 provided for the transfer of all the shares of the Bank to the Minister for Finance and was enacted under Irish law on 21 January 2009. On the same date, the Bank was re-registered as a private limited company.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090121132907/http://finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=5627 Ministers Statement]>

Observers at the time commented that the government had been slow to respond to the collapse of the Bank, with The Sunday Times stating that "Nationalisation was good enough for other European governments, but Brian Cowen's administration avoided the inevitable until its back was to the wall. Too frequently, it is seen to be reacting to events, not controlling them."{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article5537732.ece|title=Take control or step aside, Mr. Cowen|work=The Sunday Times|date=18 January 2009|access-date=26 April 2010|location=London|first=Ed|last=Hawkins}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

In a second emergency budget, delivered in April 2009, a fiscal deficit of 10.75 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) was addressed.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0408/breaking51.html |title=World reaction to Budget |publisher=Irishtimes.com |date=4 April 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=13 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013130616/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0408/breaking51.html |url-status=live }} The budget's initiatives included a doubling of the previous year's income levy to 2%, 4% and 6%; increases on the excise duties on a regular packet of cigarettes (25 cents) and a litre of diesel (5 cents); a new "asset management agency" established to remove bad loans from Irish banks; the gradual elimination of early childcare supplement by 2010, to be replaced by a subsidy towards pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds; and no further increases in social welfare for at least two years.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/money/budget2009/stories/2009/0407/budgetmeasures.html |title=Budget Measures |date=7 April 2009 |access-date=7 April 2009 |publisher=RTÉ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410000704/http://www.rte.ie/money/budget2009/stories/2009/0407/budgetmeasures.html |archive-date=10 April 2009 }} Cowen defended the emergency measures as necessary.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0407/breaking81.html|title=Budget 'toughest' in years – Cowen|date=7 April 2009|access-date=9 April 2009|newspaper=The Irish Times|archive-date=13 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013130743/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0407/breaking81.html|url-status=live}}

National and international press reactions to the budget were largely favourable, with the economics editor of the BBC reporting that there were lessons for the United Kingdom to learn from this emergency procedure and the European Commission hailing the budget as a form of "decisive action".{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0408/breaking51.html|title=World reaction to Budget|date=8 April 2009|access-date=8 April 2009|newspaper=The Irish Times|archive-date=13 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013130616/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0408/breaking51.html|url-status=live}} However, it did little to revive the political fortunes of Cowen's government. After Fianna Fáil performed badly in the elections of 5 June 2009, losing half its European Parliament seats, Fine Gael tabled a motion of no confidence against Cowen on 9 June. He survived the vote by a margin of 85–79.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/5497957/Irish-PM-Brian-Cowen-survives-vote-of-no-confidence-after-disastrous-showing-in-European-elections.html|title=Irish PM Brian Cowen survives vote of no confidence after disastrous showing in European elections|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=10 June 2009|location=London|first=Bruno|last=Waterfield|access-date=2 April 2018|archive-date=28 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628173329/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/5497957/Irish-PM-Brian-Cowen-survives-vote-of-no-confidence-after-disastrous-showing-in-European-elections.html|url-status=live}} Support for the government continued to fall: on 3 September 2009, an Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll, opinion poll{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0903/1224253745882.html |title=75% of voters want a change of government, poll shows |work=Irish Times |date=3 September 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023193841/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0903/1224253745882.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0902/poll.html |title=Satisfaction with Taoiseach falls to 15% |publisher=RTÉ.ie |date=2 September 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=23 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223034016/http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0902/poll.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |author=Paul O'Brien and Conall O Fátharta |url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/home/ff-support-plummets-to-17-in-shock-poll-100086.html |title=FF support plummets to 17% in shock poll |work=Irish Examiner |date=3 September 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=5 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605122601/http://www.irishexaminer.com/home/ff-support-plummets-to-17-in-shock-poll-100086.html |url-status=live }} reported that Cowen's satisfaction rating had dropped six points to 15 per cent, with 77 per cent of voters saying they were dissatisfied with the way he was doing his job.

File:Brian Cowen con Cristina Fernandez.jpg Cristina Fernandez in 2010.]]

Cowen's government's third budget within 14 months, delivered on 9 December 2009, saw the government facing the reality of the country nearly becoming insolvent.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2009/pc/pod-v-101209-51m11s-todaywithpatkenny.mp3 |title=RTÉ podcast with Minister for Finance 10 December 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |work=RTÉ News |archive-date=5 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605193100/http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2009/pc/pod-v-101209-51m11s-todaywithpatkenny.mp3 |url-status=live }}

{{cite news |author=Festival guide |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/cowen-finally-walks-the-walk-1971291.html |title=Cowen finally walks the walk |publisher=Independent.ie |date=11 December 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=27 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327174613/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/cowen-finally-walks-the-walk-1971291.html |url-status=live }} The 2010 Budget was described by commentators in Ireland and around the world in unusually harsh terms as €4 billion was removed from the country's national deficit; The Irish Times labelled it "the most austere Budget in the history of the State".{{cite news|author=Harry McGee|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1209/breaking85.htm|title=Few surprises in much-leaked Budget|date=9 December 2009|access-date=11 December 2009|newspaper=The Irish Times|quote=It may have been the most austere Budget in the history of the State. The arithmetic may have been brutally stark. [...] Fine Gael's Richard Bruton quickly spotted the potential hubris inherent in that claim. In the best line of his response, he said that Lenihan claiming the worst was over was like George W Bush declaring "mission accomplished" on the Iraq war in the early summer of 2003.}} It was characterised by pay cuts for public sector workers and cuts in social welfare. According to the BBC, social welfare cuts had not been implemented by the country since 1924.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8413122.stm|title=Irish MP's F-word outburst sparks parliament review|date=15 December 2009|access-date=15 December 2009|publisher=BBC|archive-date=15 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215052024/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8413122.stm|url-status=live}} The cuts prompted at least one angry outburst in Dáil Éireann.

In February 2010, Cowen defended his claim that the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) would increase the supply of credit into the economy despite the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying it would not lead to any significant increase. "People should contemplate what level of credit accessibility we'd have in this economy without NAMA," he said.

"It's not just sufficient in itself obviously for credit flow, it's certainly an important and necessary part of restructuring our banking system, of that there's no doubt, in terms of improving as a location for funding of banking operations," said Cowen. He previously said that the Government's objective in restructuring the banks through NAMA was to "generate more access to credit for Irish business at this critical time". In September 2009, the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, expressed a similar view, saying it would lead to more lending for businesses and households. Cowen was responding to reports published on 8 February, that the IMF had told Brian Lenihan in April 2009, that the NAMA would not lead to a significant increase in lending by the banks.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0208/1224263954908.html |title=IMF warned Nama would not lead to significant bank lending |publisher=Irishtimes.com |date=8 February 2010 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=20 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020001432/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0208/1224263954908.html |url-status=live }}

The comments, which appear in internal Department of Finance documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, were made by senior IMF official, Steven Seelig, who was to join the board of NAMA in May 2010. Minutes of a private meeting at the department between Brian Lenihan and IMF officials on 29 April 2009, state that the "IMF (Mr. Seelig) do not believe that Nama will result in significant increase in bank lending in Ireland". The Government has maintained that NAMA's purchase of bad loans from the banks with State bonds would increase the flow of credit in the economy since the plan was unveiled in April 2009. Speaking at the publication of the NAMA legislation in September 2009, Mr Lenihan said it would "strengthen and improve" the funding positions of the banks "so that they can lend to viable businesses and households". The IMF estimated in their published report that domestic banks would face losses of up to €35 billion, though the department pointed out this would be partly funded from operating profits and provisions already taken against some loan losses.

File:National Day of Commemoration 2010 (4782935464).jpg

Speaking on RTÉ on 15 May 2010, Cowen said that, in hindsight, he should have introduced a property tax to cool the property boom. Responding to the Taoiseach's defence of his actions as minister for finance, the Leader of the Opposition Enda Kenny accused him of "washing his hands" of his role in Ireland's economic crisis. Speaking during a front bench meeting in Cork, Kenny also claimed Fianna Fáil was spreading fear by considering cuts to the old age pension. "Sorry is a word that Fianna Fáil does not recognise, they don't understand," Kenny told party colleagues. Kenny said Taoiseach Cowen, in defending his handling of events, was refusing to acknowledge that he drove the economy "up on the rocks" for four years when he was Minister for Finance. "He expects everybody else to accept responsibility for it but not him. It's another example of hands being washed by those in charge, a refusal to accept responsibility for their part in destroying the Irish economy and heaping economic woes . . . upon so many people." The Fine Gael leader said the best thing the Taoiseach could do was to hold the three pending by-elections or a general election, so the people could have their say.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0515/1224270465049.html |title=Ahern accepts he played a role in economic crisis |publisher=Irishtimes.com |date=15 May 2010 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023193852/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0515/1224270465049.html |url-status=live }}

On 15 June 2010, Cowen faced his second no-confidence motion in just over a year, tabled by Fine Gael after the publication of two reports that criticised government policies in the run-up to Ireland's banking crisis. He again survived the motion, 82–77.{{cite news|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE65E5RO20100615|title=Irish PM Brian Cowen survives confidence vote as expected|work=Reuters UK|date=15 June 2010|access-date=21 October 2010|archive-date=21 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621031722/http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE65E5RO20100615|url-status=dead}}

On the evening of 21 November 2010, Cowen confirmed that Ireland had formally requested financial support from the European Union's European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), after long resisting pressure from other eurozone nations, particularly France and Germany.{{citation | title = Ireland confirms EU financial rescue deal | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11807730 | work = BBC News | date = 21 November 2010 | access-date = 20 June 2018 | archive-date = 27 April 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110427090342/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11807730 | url-status = live }}{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1121/imf2-business.html|title=Plan will have policy conditions – ECB|date=21 November 2010|work=RTÉ News and Current Affairs|publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann|access-date=21 November 2010|archive-date=7 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207081138/http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1121/imf2-business.html|url-status=live}} On 28 November 2010, the European Commission agreed to an €85 billion rescue deal of which €22.5 billion from the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM), €22.5 billion from the IMF, €22.5 billion from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden. The remaining €17.5 billion will come from a state contribution from the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) and other domestic cash resources.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1128/govtstatement.html|title=Government Statement on the announcement of joint EU – IMF Programme for Ireland|date=29 November 2010|work=Government of Ireland|publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann|access-date=29 November 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201011938/http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1128/govtstatement.html|archive-date=1 December 2010|df=dmy-all}}

The bailout was widely seen in Ireland as a national humiliation, and by some as a betrayal of the long-fought struggle for Irish independence whose legacy forms a major part of the Irish identity. The Irish Times editorialized:

{{cquote|whether this is what the men of 1916 died for: a bailout from the German chancellor with a few shillings of sympathy from the British chancellor on the side. There is the shame of it all. Having obtained our political independence from Britain to be the masters of our own affairs, we have now surrendered our sovereignty to the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/1118/1224283626246.html |title=Was it for this? |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=18 November 2010 |access-date=17 January 2011 |archive-date=21 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121220628/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/1118/1224283626246.html |url-status=live }}}}

On 24 November 2010, Cowen unveiled a four-year plan to stabilise the economy by 2014.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1124/economy.html |title=Minimum wage lowered, VAT to rise in plan |publisher=RTÉ.ie |date=24 November 2010 |access-date=18 January 2011 |archive-date=27 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227133301/http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1124/economy.html |url-status=live }} The plan was met with great protest as it included deeply unpopular elements, including drastic cuts in social welfare, the lowering of the minimum wage, and an increase in the value added tax while maintaining the state's low corporate tax rate.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1124/economy_tracker.html |title=Govt four-year plan unveiled – As it happened |publisher=RTÉ.ie |date=18 January 2011 |access-date=18 January 2011 |archive-date=25 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125220105/http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1124/economy_tracker.html |url-status=live }} In recognition of the political disaster this would inflict on his government, Cowen indicated that the election would take place in early 2011 after the 2011 budgetary process has been completed, though at the time he would not set a specific date.{{cite news |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/11/2010112219263374514.html |title=Irish election set for early 2011 |work=Aljazeera |date=22 November 2010 |access-date=25 November 2010 |archive-date=25 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125074623/http://english.aljazeera.net//news/europe/2010/11/2010112219263374514.html |url-status=live }}

It was revealed following the publication of the book,{{cite web |author=Dominic Hyde |url=http://www.broadsheet.ie/2011/01/12/how-you-didnt-hear-about-the-fitzpatrick-tapes-until-you-picked-up-the-sunday-times |title=How You Didn't Hear About The Fitzpatrick Tapes Until You Picked Up The Sunday Times |publisher=Broadsheet.ie |date=12 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=14 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114005349/http://www.broadsheet.ie/2011/01/12/how-you-didnt-hear-about-the-fitzpatrick-tapes-until-you-picked-up-the-sunday-times/ |url-status=live }} The Fitzpatrick Tapes{{Cite book|isbn = 978-1-84488-260-1|title = The FitzPatrick Tapes: The Rise and Fall of One Man, One Bank, and One Country|last1 = Lyons|first1 = Tom|last2 = Carey|first2 = Brian|date = 27 January 2011| publisher=Penguin Books Limited }} by Tom Lyons and Brian Carey, that two previously undisclosed meetings had occurred between Seán FitzPatrick, the Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, and Brian Cowen.

The first was a telephone call in March 2008, while Cowen was overseas in Vietnam and when Cowen was then Minister of Finance.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0109/anglo.html |title=Taoiseach confirms contacts with FitzPatrick – RTÉ News |publisher=RTÉ.ie |date=9 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=12 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112020402/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0109/anglo.html |url-status=live }} The second meeting took place on 28 July 2008, at Druids Glen, County Wicklow.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0109/breaking12.html |title=Cowen confirms FitzPatrick talks – The Irish Times – Sun, Jan 09, 2011 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=1 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=15 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115060014/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0109/breaking12.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://irishpublishingnews.com/2011/01/11/the-fitzpatrick-tapes-tuesday-round-up/ |title=The Fitzpatrick Tapes ~ Tuesday Round Up |publisher=Irish Publishing News |date=11 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=14 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114082612/http://www.irishpublishingnews.com/2011/01/11/the-fitzpatrick-tapes-tuesday-round-up/ |url-status=dead }}

At that time Anglo Irish Bank was badly affected by the downturn in the property market. On 28 September 2008, the Irish government decided to introduce a bank guarantee to cover Anglo Irish Bank, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland. Seán FitzPatrick was forced to resign in January 2009, over the Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy. The meeting, over seven hours, took place over a round of golf and a subsequent dinner with Fitzpatrick and two other directors of Anglo Irish Bank.

During a heated Leader's Question session in Dáil Éireann, which ran over the allotted time considerably, Cowen denied that Anglo Irish Bank had been discussed.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0112/politics.html |title=Taoiseach rejects 'absurd conspiracy theory' – RTÉ News |publisher=RTÉ.ie |date=13 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=15 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115040800/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0112/politics.html |url-status=live }} However, when questioned by the Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (who had been attending a wedding at the hotel and by chance had encountered Cowen and Fitzpatrick), Cowen was forced to admit that there were two other people at the meeting, Gary McGann, a director of Anglo Irish Bank and Alan Gray, a director of the Central Bank and currently managing director of a consultancy company Indecon.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0113/1224287413115.html |title=Sinn Féin's sucker punch takes the wind out of Taoiseach but no doubt he's forgotten it already – The Irish Times – Thu, Jan 13, 2011 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=13 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |first=Miriam |last=Lord |archive-date=27 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127222523/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0113/1224287413115.html |url-status=live }} Brian Cowen has claimed that the meeting was a social event, while Gray has stated that he was invited to provide economic advice on stimulating the economy.{{cite web |url=http://m.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0113/breaking22.htm?via=latest |title=Full text of Alan Gray statement | The Irish Times |publisher=M.irishtimes.com |date=13 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=13 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713060200/http://m.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0113/breaking22.htm?via=latest |url-status=live }} Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, described the purpose of the meeting as a fundraiser for Fianna Fáil.{{cite web |url=http://www.newstalk.ie/2011/news/6no-banking-discussed-between-taoiseach-and-fitzpatrick-says-coughlan84/ |title=No banking discussed between Taoiseach and FitzPatrick, says Coughlan |publisher=Newstalk.ie |date=10 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112075044/http://www.newstalk.ie/2011/news/6no-banking-discussed-between-taoiseach-and-fitzpatrick-says-coughlan84/ |archive-date=12 January 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Cowen subsequently threatened to sue Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, if he repeated the accusation outside the Dáil. Ó Caoláin responded by repeating the accusation in public and inviting Cowen to take him to court.{{cite web |url=http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/19907 |title=Taoiseach's threat of legal action – Questions from Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin | Sinn Féin |publisher=Sinnfein.ie |date=18 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=22 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122033152/http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/19907 |url-status=live }}

In the stir created by the revelations of Cowen's meetings with Fitzpatrick, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, announced his plan to table a third motion of no confidence in Cowen's government.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0114/breaking50.html |title=Gilmore tables 'no 'confidence' motion |author=Eanna O Caollai |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=14 January 2011 |access-date=14 January 2011 |archive-date=20 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120201956/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0114/breaking50.html |url-status=live }} At the time, however, Cowen's more immediate concern was pressure from within his party to step down as leader of Fianna Fáil. Cowen announced on 16 January 2011, that he would not resign as party leader of his own accord; however, he would put down a motion of confidence in his leadership at Fianna Fáil's parliamentary party meeting on 18 January 2011, to be decided by secret ballot. Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, publicly announced that he would vote against the motion, effectively presenting himself as a challenger to Cowen's leadership.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0117/breaking4.html |title=Martin claims support for Fianna Fáil leadership bid |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=17 January 2011 |access-date=17 January 2011 |archive-date=21 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121185135/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0117/breaking4.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0116/politics.html |title=Martin calls for Fianna Fáil to change leader |work=RTÉ News |date=16 January 2011 |access-date=16 January 2011 |archive-date=17 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117014002/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0116/politics.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0116/breaking2.html |title=Martin to vote against Cowen |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=16 January 2011 |access-date=16 January 2011 |archive-date=20 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120202025/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0116/breaking2.html |url-status=live }} On the evening of 18 January 2011, Government Chief Whip John Curran, announced that Cowen had prevailed in the confidence vote, although the exact counts were to remain secret and the ballots had been shredded.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0118/politics.html |title=LIVE – Brian Cowen wins leadership vote |work=Raidió Teilifís Éireann |date=18 January 2011 |access-date=18 January 2011 |archive-date=19 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119193433/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0118/politics.html |url-status=live }} Cowen also announced that he had "reluctantly" accepted Martin's resignation from his government.

The following day, however, Cowen forced the resignations of four more Ministers, Noel Dempsey, Dermot Ahern, Tony Killeen and Mary Harney;{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0119/harneym.html|title=Four ministers resign from Cabinet|work=RTÉ News|date=20 January 2011|access-date=21 January 2011|archive-date=21 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121023930/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0119/harneym.html|url-status=live}} the day after that, another Minister, Batt O'Keefe, resigned. The Ministers who resigned had already declined to contest the 2011 general election. The resignations were engineered to allow Cowen to appoint new Ministers, who might strengthen his party's position for the election. However, the junior coalition partner, the Green Party, expressed outrage that they had not been consulted about the reshuffle. The Greens accordingly refused to endorse Cowen's intended replacements, forcing Cowen to reassign the vacant portfolios to incumbent Ministers. The Green Party also threatened to pull out of the government unless Cowen set a firm date for the general election; Cowen subsequently announced it would take place on 11 March 2011. When Cowen addressed the Dáil to announce the reshuffle, the Green Party were absent and had not taken their seats in the Dáil that day. The Independent later concluded that the failed reshuffle left Cowen "an isolated, hugely damaged figure".

Moreover, Green Party leader John Gormley publicly stated that trust between the coalition parties had been greatly eroded, perhaps irreparably.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0120/cowenb.html |title=Taoiseach expected Greens to back changes |work=Raidió Teilifís Éireann |date=20 January 2011 |access-date=22 January 2011 |archive-date=21 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121175417/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0120/cowenb.html |url-status=live }} At that point, members of Fianna Fáil, including many of those who had previously announced support for Cowen in the party's confidence motion, began questioning his leadership and pressing for his resignation from the leadership of the party before the election.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0121/1224288009729.html |title=Cowen's spectacular coup ends as one of the greatest self-inflicted wounds |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=21 January 2011 |access-date=22 January 2011 |first=Harry |last=McGee |archive-date=21 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121221557/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0121/1224288009729.html |url-status=live }} The press, meanwhile, compared the attempted reshuffle and its fallout to the GUBU political disaster of the early 1980s Charles Haughey government, up to that point the most sensational political scandal in the history of Ireland.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0121/1224288007036.html |title=GUBU is back as Cowen presses self-destruct button |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=21 January 2011 |access-date=22 January 2011 |first=Deaglán |last=De Bréadún |archive-date=21 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121221334/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0121/1224288007036.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/lise-hand-never-mind-gubu-these-are-the-mad-last-days-of-biffo-2505505.html |title=Lise Hand: Never mind GUBU, these are the mad last days of BIFFO |work=The Irish Independent |date=21 January 2011 |access-date=21 January 2011 |archive-date=24 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124015732/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/lise-hand-never-mind-gubu-these-are-the-mad-last-days-of-biffo-2505505.html |url-status=live }} Fianna Fáil, already at a record low 14% approval rating, slid in the wake of the botched reshuffle to 8%.{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cowen-bails-out-as-ff-hit-8pc-low-2507450.html |title=Cowen bails out as FF hit 8pc low |work=The Irish Independent |date=23 January 2011 |access-date=23 January 2011 |first1=Jody |last1=Corcoran |first2=Daniel |last2=McConnell |archive-date=25 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125005429/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cowen-bails-out-as-ff-hit-8pc-low-2507450.html |url-status=live }}

Faced with a fractured coalition, rebellion within his party, and an acknowledged public relations disaster,{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/allies-turn-backs-on-cowen-2506559.html |title=Allies Turn Backs on Cowen |work=The Irish Independent |date=22 January 2011 |access-date=22 January 2011 |first1=Fiach |last1=Kelly |first2=Aine |last2=Kerr |archive-date=23 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123185816/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/allies-turn-backs-on-cowen-2506559.html |url-status=live }} Cowen announced his resignation as leader of Fianna Fáil on 22 January 2011. He insisted, however, that he would continue as Taoiseach under a caretaking government, until the election, to complete legislation for the 2011 budget.

The resignation did not quell the consequences of Cowen's actions. Labour leader Eamon Gilmore announced that he would go forward with his no-confidence motion on Wednesday, 26 January 2011. Leader of the Opposition Enda Kenny also announced that if Cowen did not ask President Mary McAleese for an immediate dissolution of the Dáil, his party would table a no-confidence motion in the Taoiseach on Tuesday, ahead of Labour's motion.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0122/breaking19.html |title=Cowen to face FG confidence vote |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=22 January 2011 |access-date=22 January 2011 |archive-date=29 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129071718/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0122/breaking19.html |url-status=live }} Then, on Sunday the 23rd, less than 24 hours after Cowen announced his resignation, the Greens tore up the coalition agreement and pulled its two ministers, Gormley and Eamon Ryan, from the government. Cowen accepted their resignations. This left Cowen at the head of a minority government, with seven Ministers (the absolute minimum mandated by the constitution of Ireland), and facing two consecutive no-confidence votes in the Dáil.{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/early-election-looms-after-greens-leave-government-1.1279022 |title=Early election looms after Greens leave government |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=24 January 2011 |access-date=23 January 2011 |first=Stephen |last=Collins |archive-date=23 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180223171434/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/early-election-looms-after-greens-leave-government-1.1279022 |url-status=live }}

On 24 January 2011, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan met with delegations from Fine Gael, Labour, and the Greens, striking a final deal. Labour and Fine Gael agreed to drop their no-confidence motions in exchange for an agreement that the finance bill would be finalised in the Dáil by Friday the 28th (with the Seanad to finalise on Saturday), upon which Cowen would immediately request that President McAleese dissolve the Dáil.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0124/breaking8.html |title=Lenihan and Opposition reach deal on Finance Bill |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=24 January 2011 |access-date=24 January 2011 |archive-date=27 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127222421/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0124/breaking8.html |url-status=live }}

The Dáil passed the finance bill on 27 January 2011, with the Seanad following on 29 January.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0127/breaking18.html |title=Finance Bill passed by Dáil |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=27 January 2011 |access-date=29 January 2011 |archive-date=28 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128183709/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0127/breaking18.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0129/financebill.html |title=Finance Bill passes all stages in Seanad |work=RTÉ News |date=29 January 2011 |access-date=29 January 2011 |archive-date=30 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110130231621/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0129/financebill.html |url-status=live }} Accordingly, Cowen asked McAleese to dissolve the Dáil on 1 February 2011. Following Irish constitutional practice, McAleese duly granted the dissolution.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0201/politics.html |title=LIVE – Dissolution of the 30th Dáil |work=RTÉ |date=1 February 2011 |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-date=3 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203013912/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0201/politics.html |url-status=live }} Cowen subsequently confirmed that the general election would be brought forward to 25 February 2011.[http://breakingnews.ie/ireland/election-date-confirmed-as-february-25-491737.html Election date confirmed as 25 February] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204134510/http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/election-date-confirmed-as-february-25-491737.html |date=4 February 2011 }} breakingnews.ie, 1 February 2011. Cowen also announced that he would not contest his Dáil seat. He said he would retire from politics, after 27 years.

The pent-up resentment at Cowen's government resulted in a debacle for Fianna Fáil at the general election. The party suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government in the history of the Irish state, falling to only 20 seats for third place—the first time since 1927 that it was not the largest party in the chamber. Cowen was succeeded by Leader of the Opposition Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, leading a Fine Gael-Labour coalition, which took office on 9 March 2011. As Cowen was no longer a TD when the new Dáil convened, he was unable to preside over the opening, and Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin and outgoing Finance Minister Brian Lenihan appeared on the government front bench in his place.

{{wikiquote}}

Cowen was often referred to in Irish satirical and tabloid media as BIFFO, a nickname applied to people from Offaly.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/introducing-biffo-irelands-taoiseach-waiting-in-the-wings-805134.html?r=RSS|title=Introducing Biffo, Ireland's Taoiseach waiting in the wings|last=McKittrick|first=David|date=6 April 2008|work=The Independent|access-date=11 May 2008|location=London|archive-date=14 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514031737/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/introducing-biffo-irelands-taoiseach-waiting-in-the-wings-805134.html?r=RSS|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bcc.ie/decisions_details/Oct200/90%2004%20decision%20Dr.%20T.%20O'Neill%20Oct04.doc. |title=Complaint made by: Dr. Tim O'Neill Ref: 90/04 |date=October 2004 |work=BCC Complaint Decisions |publisher=Broadcasting Complaints Commission |access-date=11 May 2008 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} BIFFO is an acronym for "Big Ignorant Fecker/Fucker{{cite news |url=http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/04/eu_referendum_will_be_cowens_f.html |title=EU referendum will be Cowen's first test |work=The Guardian politics blog |date=4 April 2008 |author=McDonald, Henry |access-date=7 May 2008 |location=London |archive-date=12 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512101149/http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/04/eu_referendum_will_be_cowens_f.html |url-status=live }} From Offaly". Cowen has said that BIFFO stands for "Beautiful Intelligent Fellow From Offaly'.{{cite web|url=http://www.offalyexpress.ie/local-authority-reports/Biffo-hits-the-world-stage.3959299.jp|title='Biffo' hits the world stage|work=Offaly Express|date=9 April 2008|access-date=9 April 2008|archive-date=26 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526013048/http://www.offalyexpress.ie/local-authority-reports/Biffo-hits-the-world-stage.3959299.jp|url-status=live}} An unnamed journalist described Cowen "as subtle as a JCB".{{cite news |url=http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/04/eu_referendum_will_be_cowens_f.html |title=EU referendum will be Cowen's first test |work=The Guardian politics blog |date=4 April 2008 |author=McDonald, Henry |access-date=19 January 2010 |location=London |archive-date=12 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512101149/http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/04/eu_referendum_will_be_cowens_f.html |url-status=live }}

WikiLeaks cables from Ireland to the US revealed, that US diplomats in Ireland reported that the nickname BIFFO applied "especially well" to former Taoiseach Brian Cowen, as described in leaked US embassy dispatches.{{cite web |first=Shane |last=Phelan |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/wikileaks/biffo-nickname-suited-cowen-especially-well-said-us-envoy-2662657.html |title=BIFFO nickname suited Cowen 'especially well', said US envoy |work=Independent |date=2011-06-01 |access-date=2013-06-27 |archive-date=3 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603064747/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/wikileaks/biffo-nickname-suited-cowen-especially-well-said-us-envoy-2662657.html |url-status=live }}

In a candid profile from WikiLeaks, of Cowen as the Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, then US Ambassador Thomas Foley described Cowen as "burly and brusque" saying that he had "a reputation of not being much concerned with his public image."

The Ambassador also described Mr Cowen's fondness for frequenting pubs and singing,{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j8F-9nmZ5I |title=An Taoiseach Brian Cowen Singing |date=13 May 2008 |publisher=Youtube.com |access-date=2013-06-27 |archive-date=20 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520052842/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j8F-9nmZ5I |url-status=live }} saying he would likely be more approachable than his predecessor Bertie Ahern.

Cowen was accused of "conduct unbecoming", over comments he made in the Dáil when, at the end of a heated exchange, he sat down and spoke to Tánaiste Mary Coughlan; Dáil microphones picked up the Taoiseach using the word "fuckers", though he was not referring to any opposition politician.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/politics/cowen-caught-on-dail-mic-using-fword-1382554.html|title=Cowen caught on Dáil microphone using 'F'word|work=Irish Independent|date=21 May 2008|access-date=31 May 2008|archive-date=23 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080523060641/http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/politics/cowen-caught-on-dail-mic-using-fword-1382554.html|url-status=live}} He later apologised for his remark.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/first-apology-for-the-fianna-fail-gruffalo-who-minded-his-ps-and-qs-but-forgot-about-fs-1382714.html|title=First apology for the Fianna Fáil Gruffalo who minded his Ps and Qs but forgot about Fs|work=Irish Independent|date=22 May 2008|first=Lise|last=Hand|access-date=31 May 2008|archive-date=11 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211232445/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/first-apology-for-the-fianna-fail-gruffalo-who-minded-his-ps-and-qs-but-forgot-about-fs-1382714.html|url-status=live}}

Cowen has been openly criticised by his parliamentary party colleagues including one who said in an interview that Cowen has suffered from "poor communications and consultation" and expressed concern about the emergence of a perceived "triumvirate" (comprising the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance) within the Cabinet.{{cite news |author=O2 Ideas Room |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cowen-faces-new-backbench-revolt-1566345.html |title=Cowen faces new backbench revolt |publisher=Independent.ie |date=7 December 2008 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=30 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730053212/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cowen-faces-new-backbench-revolt-1566345.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web | title=The Times & The Sunday Times | website=The Times & The Sunday Times | date=2021-05-20 | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article5299488.ece | access-date=2021-05-20}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

In a novel criticism, artist and teacher Conor Casby{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5977397.ece|title=Artist Conor Casby faces jail after Brian Cowen made an unwitting model for toilet humour|work=The Times|date=26 March 2009|location=London|access-date=26 April 2010|first=David|last=Sharrock}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} placed unflattering nude portraits of Cowen in the National Gallery of Ireland and the gallery of the Royal Hibernian Academy. The pictures were reported in a television news bulletin and caused considerable debate in the media.{{cite web |author=BBQs warning |url=http://www.herald.ie/national-news/garda-quiz-man-over-cowen-pic-1685386.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524043912/http://www.herald.ie/national-news/garda-quiz-man-over-cowen-pic-1685386.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 May 2010 |title=Garda quiz man over Cowen pic |work=The Herald |date=25 March 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5971027.ece|title=Brian Cowen is exposed to ridicule by art gallery guerrilla - Times Online|date=21 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221162913/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5971027.ece|archive-date=21 February 2011}}{{cite news |author=McDonald, Henry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/24/nude-paintings-taoiseach-brian-cowen |title=Guerrilla artist hangs nude paintings of taoiseach Brian Cowen |work=Guardian |date=24 March 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |location=London |archive-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906074902/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/24/nude-paintings-taoiseach-brian-cowen |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0326/1224243451787.html |title=Gardai question artist under caution |publisher=Irishtimes.com |date=3 March 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=21 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021165407/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0326/1224243451787.html |url-status=live }}

Cowen was criticised as being inept during the approach to the third budget, in December 2009. He said, "Our priority is to stabilise the public finances", a year after the Irish public was told that this was the priority for 2008.{{cite news |author=Festival guide |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/john-drennan/john-drennan-tattered-taoiseach-is-but-a-paltry-thing-1965628.html |title=John Drennan: Tattered Taoiseach is but a paltry thing |work=Independent |date=6 December 2009 |access-date=12 June 2010 |archive-date=2 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102120528/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/john-drennan/john-drennan-tattered-taoiseach-is-but-a-paltry-thing-1965628.html |url-status=live }}

On 14 September 2010, after an interview on RTÉ's Morning Ireland,{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/morningireland/player.html?20100914,2818579,2818597,real,209 |title=Morning Ireland radio interview |work=RTÉ Radio |date=14 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100916181822/http://www.rte.ie/news/morningireland/player.html?20100914%2C2818579%2C2818597%2Creal%2C209 |archive-date=16 September 2010 |df=dmy-all}} Cowen was described by Deputy Simon Coveney of Fine Gael as sounding as if he was intoxicated or hungover. The interview was on the morning of day two of his party's annual pre-Dáil meeting held at the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway.{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/taoiseach-denies-radio-interview-impaired-by-alcohol-2336985.html |title=Taoiseach denies radio interview impaired by alcohol |work=Irish Independent |date=14 September 2010 |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-date=18 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918104418/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/taoiseach-denies-radio-interview-impaired-by-alcohol-2336985.html |url-status=live }} Cowen rejected{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0914/breaking16.html |title=Cowen rejects criticism of radio interview performance |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=14 September 2010 |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-date=23 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123163005/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0914/breaking16.html |url-status=live }} the allegations, describing them as "pathetic". However, this incident has been unfavourably commented upon by the international press,{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11295462 |title=Irish premier denies being hungover during interview |work=BBC News |date=14 September 2010 |access-date=20 June 2018 |archive-date=8 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008215953/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11295462 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/brian-cowen-irish-premier_n_716025.html |title=Brian Cowen, Irish Premier, Denies Being Drunk on Air |work=Huffington Post |date=14 September 2010 |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-date=15 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915221711/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/brian-cowen-irish-premier_n_716025.html |url-status=live }} and dubbed "Gargle gate" by the domestic media.{{cite web|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/horrifying-drinking-went-on-at-ff-meeting-205208.html|title='Horrifying' drinking went on at FF meeting|work=Irish Examiner|author=Paul O'Brien|date=2012-08-24|access-date=2013-10-10|archive-date=22 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222055726/http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/horrifying-drinking-went-on-at-ff-meeting-205208.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.herald.ie/news/cowen-was-close-to-breaking-down-after-garglegate-uproar-27962239.html|title=Cowen was 'close to breaking down' after Garglegate uproar|author=Kevin Doyle|work=Evening Herald|date=2010-12-17|access-date=2013-10-10|archive-date=21 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221171057/http://www.herald.ie/news/cowen-was-close-to-breaking-down-after-garglegate-uproar-27962239.html|url-status=live}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRZvERI5nf8 A brief sketch about Cowen] that appeared on a subsequent episode of the American talk show The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, in which host Jay Leno described Cowen as a "drunken moron" and acted with incredulity towards his status as Taoiseach, received coverage in the Irish media and further damaged Cowen's public image.{{Cite news|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/tonight-show-host-jay-leno-calls-taoiseach-brian-cowen-a-drunken-moron-28561661.html|title=Tonight Show host Jay Leno calls Taoiseach Brian Cowen a 'drunken moron'|newspaper=Belfasttelegraph |via=www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk|access-date=20 May 2021|archive-date=20 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520030921/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/tonight-show-host-jay-leno-calls-taoiseach-brian-cowen-a-drunken-moron-28561661.html|url-status=live}}

He apologised for his interview performance the following day saying, "It wasn't my best performance and I would like to apologise for that. I would hate to think the reputation of the country or the office of Taoiseach would in any way be affected by what I had to say."{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11322087 |title=Brian Cowen admits interview 'not the best performance' |publisher=BBBC News |date=15 September 2010 |access-date=20 June 2018 |archive-date=8 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008221507/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11322087 |url-status=live }} He claimed that there was a hoarseness in his voice and denied that he had been hungover. His version of this event was substantiated in 2017, by his interviewer who stated that Cowen was weary and not drunk or hungover.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

When Cowen took office, his approval rating was at 52%. At the time, he was considered a local and national hero. After his first 100 days however, Cowen's approval rating slipped to 27%, marking the first time a Taoiseach's popularity declined significantly since the creation of the post in 1937. By the beginning of 2009, his approval rating hovered at 24%, but then later fell to 18%, and later that year, was at 15%.

However, at the end of 2009, Cowen's approval rating recovered to 22%, before rising to 26% when 2010 began. However, his approval rating fell back down to 18% later that year. By the end of 2010, Cowen's approval rating was at 14% with nine out of ten Irish people wanting him out.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/ireland-business-blog-with-lisa-ocarroll/2010/dec/16/brian-cowen-90-percent-want-him-out|title=Ireland crisis: nine out of 10 want Brian Cowen out|work=The Guardian|date=16 December 2010}} After a failed cabinet shuffle in January 2011, Cowen's approval rating reached its lowest point of just 8%, before leaving office with a 10% approval rating.

As of August 2010, despite being very unpopular at home, Cowen was listed as one of the top ten leaders in the world by Newsweek magazine, which praised his handling of the Irish economy. While The Wall Street Journal stated that "Cowen has presided over the worst economic crisis in modern times",[https://blogs.wsj.com/source/2010/08/20/ireland-gasps-after-newsweek-names-pm-one-of-top-10-world-leaders Ireland Gasps after Newsweek Names PM One of Top 10 World Leaders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307214346/https://blogs.wsj.com/source/2010/08/20/ireland-gasps-after-newsweek-names-pm-one-of-top-10-world-leaders/ |date=7 March 2018 }} The Wall Street Journal, 2010-08-20. Newsweek ranked him fifth in the world after David Cameron, Mohamed Nasheed, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Wen Jiabao.{{cite web |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cowen-named-in-top-10-world-leaders-by-us-news-magazine-2302971.html |title=Cowen named in Top 10 world leaders by US news magazine |work=Irish Independent |date=2010-08-19 |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-date=7 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007182703/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cowen-named-in-top-10-world-leaders-by-us-news-magazine-2302971.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Brian-Cowen-ranked-top-ten-leader-by-Newsweek-101064234.html |title=Brian Cowen ranked top ten leader by Newsweek |publisher=Irish Central |date=2010-08-19 |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-date=12 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012013829/http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Brian-Cowen-ranked-top-ten-leader-by-Newsweek-101064234.html |url-status=live }}

According to TheJournal.ie, Cowen was "the least popular incumbent in the history of [Irish] opinion polling," with approval between 8 and 10 per cent of the electorate.{{cite news|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/cowen-insists-i-will-lead-ff-into-next-election-2010-12/|title=Cowen says "no one is more sorry" Ireland is in this situation than he is|work=Thejournal.ie|date=12 August 2010|access-date=12 January 2011|location=Dublin|archive-date=12 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101212230959/http://www.thejournal.ie/cowen-insists-i-will-lead-ff-into-next-election-2010-12/|url-status=live}} As of January 2011, Fianna Fáil's popularity had fallen to a record low and was tied with Sinn Féin on 14% in joint third place.{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1202/politics.html |title=Poll sees Fianna Fáil support fall further |publisher=RTÉ.ie |date=17 December 2010 |access-date=1 January 2011 |archive-date=22 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222093435/http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1202/politics.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |author=Insurance |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/fg-tops-new-poll-at-35pc-while-ff-still-at-dismal-low-2488693.html |title=FG tops new poll at 35pc while FF still at dismal low |work=Independent |date=8 January 2011 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-date=13 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113161138/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/fg-tops-new-poll-at-35pc-while-ff-still-at-dismal-low-2488693.html |url-status=live }}

Cowen became leader of Fianna Fáil and Taoiseach without ever facing an election in either capacity; he is the only Fianna Fáil leader to have left the post without ever taking the party into an election. Under his stewardship of the country, his party Fianna Fáil, saw its electoral support base diminished by 75% in the general election of February 2011, as a reaction to the intervention, in the running of the Irish economy, of the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank in November 2010.{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2011/0228/1224291011457.html|title=Angry electorate coldly voted to liquidate Fianna Fáil|newspaper=The Irish Times |access-date=28 February 2011|archive-date=1 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111101103418/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2011/0228/1224291011457.html|url-status=live}}

Cowen was criticised{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/taoiseach-s-failings-as-national-leader-may-inflict-most-damage-on-ff-at-polls-1.1279160|title=Taoiseach's failings as a national leader may inflict the most damage on FF at polls|first=Diarmaid|last=Ferriter|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=20 May 2021|archive-date=16 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116103737/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/taoiseach-s-failings-as-national-leader-may-inflict-most-damage-on-ff-at-polls-1.1279160|url-status=live}} for being a poor communicator and for his perceived failure to connect with the electorate. Historian Diarmaid Ferriter described Cowen's "appalling communication skills and self-destructive stubbornness" as inflicting most damage to Fianna Fáil.

As the scale of the party's electoral defeat became evident, Cowen accepted responsibility for decisions taken in government.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/elections/latest-news/fianna-fail-pay-the-price-for-economic-collapse-2558427.html|title=Fianna Fail pay the price for economic collapse|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=27 February 2011|access-date=27 June 2013|archive-date=23 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123160436/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/elections/latest-news/fianna-fail-pay-the-price-for-economic-collapse-2558427.html|url-status=live}}

"From my point of view as Taoiseach and as a Minister in the past I take full responsibility. I've never quibbled or suggested otherwise."

In November 2011, a review of Cowen's governance was broadcast{{cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/crisis_inside_the_cowen_government.html |title=Crisis: Inside the Cowen Government |publisher=RTÉ News |access-date=27 June 2013 |archive-date=30 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030022916/http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/crisis_inside_the_cowen_government.html |url-status=live }} on RTÉ television over two episodes entitled Crisis: Inside the Cowen Government. Cowen did not contribute to the series, but many of his former ministerial colleagues critiqued his performance as Taoiseach.

On 21 March 2012, Cowen delivered a speech at the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., entitled "The Euro: From Crisis to Resolution? Some Reflections from Ireland on the Road Thus Far".{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/gene-kerrigan/gene-kerrigan-mr-cowen-goes-to-washington-and-rewrites-history-26838408.html|title=Mr Cowen goes to Washington and rewrites history|date=1 April 2012|work=Irish Independent|access-date=30 June 2013|archive-date=23 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150523073013/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/gene-kerrigan/gene-kerrigan-mr-cowen-goes-to-washington-and-rewrites-history-26838408.html|url-status=live}} In his first public comments since leaving office, he defended his government's blanket bank guarantee in 2008,{{cite news|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2012/0327/world/cowen-breaks-silence-on-guarantee-188479.html|title=Cowen breaks silence on guarantee|date=27 March 2012|work=Irish Examiner|access-date=10 July 2013|archive-date=20 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520232543/http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2012/0327/world/cowen-breaks-silence-on-guarantee-188479.html|url-status=live}} but admitted that his government should have increased taxes and cut spending.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0326/315119-cowenb/|title=Brian Cowen admits govt should have increased taxes|date=27 March 2012|work=RTÉ News|access-date=10 July 2013|archive-date=21 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521135516/http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0326/315119-cowenb/|url-status=live}} He also admitted that his government should accept some blame for Ireland's economic downfall.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Former-Irish-leader-Brian-Cowen-admits-blame-for-Irish-economic-collapse-144598605.html|title=Former Irish leader Brian Cowen admits blame for Irish economic collapse|date=28 March 2012|work=Irish Central|access-date=10 July 2013|archive-date=10 July 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130710172106/http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Former-Irish-leader-Brian-Cowen-admits-blame-for-Irish-economic-collapse-144598605.html|url-status=live}} He compared the start of the 2008 economic crisis to a series of plane crashes, all taking place at the same time and each for different reasons.{{cite news|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/cowen-compares-banking-crisis-to-multiple-plane-crashes-occurring-at-once-397366-Mar2012/|title=Cowen compares banking crisis to 'multiple plane crashes occurring at once'|date=26 March 2012|work=TheJournal.ie|access-date=10 July 2013|archive-date=11 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211220201/https://www.thejournal.ie/cowen-compares-banking-crisis-to-multiple-plane-crashes-occurring-at-once-397366-Mar2012/|url-status=live}} He receives annual pension payments of over €150,000.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/thanks-big-fellas-ahern-and-cowen-get-massive-pensions-2931032.html|title=Thanks big fellas: Ahern and Cowen get massive pensions|work=Irish Independent|access-date=10 November 2011|first=Fiach|last=Kelly|date=10 November 2011|archive-date=11 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111080223/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/thanks-big-fellas-ahern-and-cowen-get-massive-pensions-2931032.html|url-status=live}}

In May 2014, Cowen became part of the board of Topaz Energy.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/0502/614943-topaz-energy-board/|publisher=RTÉ.ie|date=2 May 2014|title=Brian Cowen and former AIB boss appointed to Topaz board|access-date=1 May 2015|archive-date=21 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521135710/http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/0502/614943-topaz-energy-board/|url-status=live}} He was appointed to the board of Beacon Hospital in February 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/former-taoiseach-brian-cowen-joins-board-of-beacon-hospital-31003390.html|title=Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen joins board of Beacon Hospital|website=independent|date=19 February 2015 |access-date=30 June 2020|archive-date=9 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709014922/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/former-taoiseach-brian-cowen-joins-board-of-beacon-hospital-31003390.html|url-status=live}}

In April 2015, Cowen was attacked by protesters in Dublin, in which he was called a "scumbag" and a "traitor".{{cite web|url=http://www.sundayworld.com/news/brian-cowen-called-a-f-ing-melted-cheesehead-by-protesters|title=VIDEO: Ex Taoiseach Brian Cowen called a 'f***ing melted cheesehead' by protesters|publisher=Sunday World|date=24 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426025726/http://www.sundayworld.com/news/brian-cowen-called-a-f-ing-melted-cheesehead-by-protesters|archive-date=26 April 2015|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/brian-cowen-confronted-by-protesters-in-dublin-1.2188076|title=Brian Cowen confronted by protesters in Dublin|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=24 April 2015|access-date=1 May 2015|archive-date=25 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425215441/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/brian-cowen-confronted-by-protesters-in-dublin-1.2188076|url-status=live}}

In July 2017, Cowen was conferred with an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland, an honour bestowed on all but two{{failed verification|date=July 2020}} former Taoisigh.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/honorary-national-university-of-ireland-doctorate-for-brian-cowen-1.3161464|title=Honorary National University of Ireland doctorate for Brian Cowen|date=20 July 2017|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=2017-07-27|language=en-US|archive-date=29 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729175236/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/honorary-national-university-of-ireland-doctorate-for-brian-cowen-1.3161464|url-status=live}} During his 50-minute acceptance speech he criticised the EU for its behaviour towards Ireland during the 2008 financial crisis and expressed regret that so many jobs were lost during the recession.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/brian-cowen-speaks-of-regret-over-recession-and-accuses-eu-of-failing-state-1.3167883|title=Brian Cowen speaks of 'regret' over recession and accuses EU of failing State|date=26 July 2017|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=2017-07-27|language=en-US|archive-date=27 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727095101/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/brian-cowen-speaks-of-regret-over-recession-and-accuses-eu-of-failing-state-1.3167883|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/miriam-lord-dr-biffo-gets-it-off-his-chest-at-veterans-reunion-1.3167982|title=Miriam Lord: Dr Biffo gets it off his chest at veterans' reunion|date=26 July 2017|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=2017-07-27|language=en-US|archive-date=27 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727094742/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/miriam-lord-dr-biffo-gets-it-off-his-chest-at-veterans-reunion-1.3167982|url-status=live}} Following the conferring ceremony, the NUI faced considerable public criticism for deciding to make the award to Cowen. Former (and founding) President of the University of Limerick, Ed Walsh, announced that he would hand back his honorary doctorate in protest, and did so on 14 November 2018.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/ex-ul-president-to-hand-back-degree-in-brian-cowen-protest-1.3170368|title=Ex-UL president to hand back degree in Brian Cowen protest|date=29 July 2017|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=2017-07-31|language=en-US|archive-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731152918/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/ex-ul-president-to-hand-back-degree-in-brian-cowen-protest-1.3170368|url-status=live}}

On 5 July 2019, Cowen was admitted to Beacon Hospital after suffering a major brain haemorrhage. He was then transferred to St. Vincent's University Hospital where he spent five months before transferring to a physical rehabilitation facility.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/brian-cowen-hopes-to-walk-again-soon-after-having-stroke-last-july-1.4170716|title=Brian Cowen 'hopes to walk again' soon after having stroke last July|first=Shauna|last=Bowers|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=30 June 2020|archive-date=12 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212202615/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/brian-cowen-hopes-to-walk-again-soon-after-having-stroke-last-july-1.4170716|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30934997.html|title=Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen taken seriously ill; family at his side|first=Daniel|last=McConnell|date=5 July 2019|website=Irish Examiner|access-date=20 May 2021|archive-date=20 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520030921/https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30934997.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/429315/leading-political-figures-send-best-wishes-to-seriously-ill-brian-cowen.html|title=Leading political figures send best wishes to 'seriously ill' Brian Cowen|newspaper=Offaly Express|date=5 July 2019|access-date=9 July 2019|archive-date=6 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706230750/https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/429315/leading-political-figures-send-best-wishes-to-seriously-ill-brian-cowen.html|url-status=live}} As of late 2020, while Cowen was still in hospital following a stroke the previous year, he had been making steady progress.{{Cite news|url=https://www.midlands103.com/news/midlands-news/brian-cowen-making-steady-progress/|title=Brian Cowen Making Steady Progress|date=19 January 2020|work=Midlands 103|access-date=2020-01-19|language=en-US|archive-date=26 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926042305/https://www.midlands103.com/news/midlands-news/brian-cowen-making-steady-progress/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/he-hopes-to-walk-again-brian-cowen-still-in-hospital-but-making-progress-after-stroke-last-year-38947518.html|title='He hopes to walk again' - Brian Cowen still in hospital but making progress after stroke last year|website=independent|date=11 February 2020 |language=en|access-date=2020-02-12|archive-date=12 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212000116/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/he-hopes-to-walk-again-brian-cowen-still-in-hospital-but-making-progress-after-stroke-last-year-38947518.html|url-status=live}} Cowen returned home in 2021[https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/des-omalley-has-left-a-great-legacy-says-brian-cowen-40687015.html Des O’Malley has left a great legacy, says Brian Cowen] and has made a recent public appearance in a wheelchair.[https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/your-community/671304/in-pictures-former-taoiseach-brian-cowen-makes-public-appearance-with-sam-maguire-for-local-charity.html IN PICTURES: Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen makes public appearance with Sam Maguire for local charity]

• Families in the Oireachtas

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Brian Cowen}}

{{wikiquote}}

• [http://www.offalyexpress.ie/sectionhome.aspx?sectionID=11071 Brian Cowen feature from the Offaly Express]
• [https://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/what-brian-and-mary-did-next-26768665.html What Brian and Mary did next]
• {{C-SPAN}}

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{{s-bef|before = Michael O'Kennedy}}

{{s-ttl|title = Minister for Labour

|years = 1992–1993}}

{{s-aft|after = Mervyn Taylor}}

{{s-bef|before = Albert Reynolds}}

{{s-ttl|title = Minister for Energy

|years = 1993}}

{{s-aft|after = Charlie McCreevy}}

{{s-bef|before = Charlie McCreevy}}

{{s-ttl|title = Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications

|years = 1993–1994}}

{{s-aft|after = Michael Lowry}}

{{s-bef|before = Michael Noonan}}

{{s-ttl|title = Minister for Health and Children

|years = 1997–2000}}

{{s-aft|after = Micheál Martin}}

{{s-bef|before = David Andrews}}

{{s-ttl|title = Minister for Foreign Affairs

|years = 2000–2004}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Minister for Finance

|years = 2004–2008}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Tánaiste

|years = 2007–2008}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Taoiseach

|years = 2008–2011}}

{{s-aft|after = Enda Kenny}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Minister for Foreign Affairs

|years = 2011}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Baby of the Dáil

|years = 1984–1987}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Deputy leader of Fianna Fáil

|years = 2002–2008}}

{{s-aft|after = Mary Coughlan}}

{{s-bef|before = Bertie Ahern}}

{{s-ttl|title = Leader of Fianna Fáil

|years = 2008–2011}}

{{s-aft|after = Micheál Martin}}

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Category:1960 births

Brian

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