Virgin Media's Richard Chambers says he writing his book 'A State of Emergency' was a scary process but it also felt good.
The book chronicles Ireland's covid crisis and contains both the personal stories as well as lifting the lid on the state's response and the tension between the HSE, government and NPHET.
Speaking to Beat, the journalist explained that it was important to him to tell the story now while we are still living with covid-19;
"If you're gonna tell the truest account of all this, you want to do it while all the people who had their hands on the levers are still in the situation.
To talk to Tony Holohan about what life was like in NPHET, you've gotta do it while he's in NPHET and he's running NPHET. The same with all the politicians and advisors, so to be able to do it now I think is important."
Chambers interviewed a lot of people for the book and says says he heard a lot of sad stories throughout the process.
"It's about raw accounts of what happened. There was one senior member of staff in the nursing home in the Phoenix Park who I interviewed and she just told a story that I think will always stick with me.
She left her work one day, driving her car back home with tears streaming down her face at what had happened over the course of the day and then coming across one of the Garda checkpoints and the Garda leaning in the window and asking are you okay and she just wasn't even able to speak."
