This is my last article as a fortnightly columnist due to changes at the paper, though I have been asked to write an occasional column.
I was honoured to write for The Irish News for almost 14 years and I am delighted to be asked to continue to write occasionally for one of Ireland’s most prestigious and popular papers.
I would like to thank all those in the paper and the editorial staff for providing me with the opportunity to be a columnist, for their kindness and friendly advice.
I would also like to thank my life-long friend, Danny Morrison, whose opinion I regularly sought. It was of immense help to me.
Thanks also to those who read my articles.
Writing is a lonely and self-doubting experience, especially when the article leaves ‘home’ from the safety of one’s computer, makes its way through the editor’s desk, to the reader and then the anxious wait for a response.
The buzz and relief that arrives when someone sends a positive text is hard to explain, but it is exhilarating.
I have learned many lessons over the years especially the importance of the human story or the human connection to a story.
I well remember writing about the owner of Meleady’s fruit shop on the Falls Road. I told her seven-decades-long story in the stipulated 700 words. It was the first and only time, in relation to my article, that the paper received phone calls asking for copies of the paper with the article I had written in it.
That taught me to always looks for a human-angle to my article – and it was not at all easy to do.
But when I did, the feedback invariably was always better.
In the course of writing I discovered that Cathal O’Byrne, of ‘As I Roved Out’ fame, a cousin of my granny Rooney, also wrote for the paper.
The big influences on me are my mum and dad, and their herculean efforts to raise ten children during the poorest of times, in the 1950s and 60s, and how that experience shaped my outlook.
Also the people I grew up with in the Ballymacarrett/Short Strand area – those in the IRA who gave their lives in the conflict, some dying in their teens, and those who survived, serving many years in prison. And that great community who were part of the resistance to unionist misrule and British occupation.
I currently work with Seanadoir Niall O Donnghaile, a proud member of that community.
A small number of families who lost loved ones during the conflict mean a lot to me because of the manner with which they carry their huge burden of grief.
All the hunger strikers and their families, six of whom I visited while they were dying in the prison hospital – Bobby, Francis, Raymond, Joe, Martin and Tom.
Out of these tragedies I understood the importance of giving space in my column to all relatives of those who died in the conflict but particularly those killed by British state forces.
And this week we saw the two faces of the legacy of the conflict – the dignity of those deeply hurt relatives whose loved ones were massacred in Ballymurphy 50 years ago and the callous and cruel face of the protectors of the killers – the British government - who on the very day the relatives were in court securing the truth, released a statement announcing plans to legally protect the killers.
The families’ incredible endurance and the extraordinary detailed and meticulous legal guidance from Padraig O Muiri and Phoneix Law firm, ensured the consummate verdict of innocence.
In the time I have been writing much has changed in Ireland - driven I believe by peace and modernisation.
The debate about this country’s constitutional future is stronger than anytime I recall arising out of the growth of Sinn Féin nationally, the impact of Brexit, the role of ‘Ireland’s Future’, the decline in support for unionist parties, the growth in support for the Alliance Party and the willingness of civic unionists, loyalists and Protestants to take part in the constitutional debate.
The agreement by the Seanad on Monday night to call for the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, including the constitutional referendum and support for a resolution to legacy and a civic assembly, is very welcome indeed.
Much has changed and I had a wonderful time reflecting those changes in this column.
Slan for now.
