Mary’s Musings In her latest observations Mary O’Rourke comments on the new Swedish President, considers Emanuele Macron’s chances in the 2022 French Presidential election and looks forward to reading the much-publicised biography of Charles J Haughey
I hope you can reflect on those wondrous words from Derek Mahon and that they will act, in some way, as a balm and a salve on your bruised soul in the lead-up to Christmas.
I hope that Christmas will bring some new books to the readers. I am going to concentrate in this edition on the recent biography of Charlie Haughey by Professor Gary Murphy. It is a biographical giant of a book, all of 690 pages, simply called Haughey. Professor Murphy is Professor of Politics in Dublin City University, and he has penned a most thorough and exhaustive account of Charlie Haughey’s life, warts and all.
How should I not be glad to contemplate the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window and a high tide reflected on the ceiling? There will be dying, there will be dying, but there is no need to go into that. The poems flow from the hand unbidden and the hidden source is the watchful heart. The sun rises in spite of everything and the far cities are beautiful and bright. I lie here in a riot of sunlight watching the day break and the clouds flying. Everything is going to be all right. (Everything is Going to be All Right – Derek Mahon)
I hope you can reflect on those wondrous words from Derek Mahon and that they will act, in some way, as a balm and a salve on your bruised soul in the lead-up to Christmas.
Hello to all the readers of this fine magazine, Senior Times. I’ve started my piece with that wonderful poem by the late Derek Mahon. I think it is needed in this age of huge uncertainty, particularly in the light of the new Omicron variant of Covid which has emerged. Yes, everything is going to be all right. In the meantime, we press ahead. I recall that when I wrote my last piece for Senior Times, I had thought it was the Christmas edition and I wished everyone a happy Christmas. Now I find I’m going to repeat myself, but what harm: a very Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the readers of Senior Times.
Yes, there is a new Covid variant, Omicron, but we don’t know enough about it yet, so we’ll just keep listening, keep cheerful, and above all, continue to observe the normal health rules. In the last edition, you may remember that I spoke about the new joined-up university between Athlone and Limerick, the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS). Now we have news of another new university, again based on water. The previous one, TUS, was based on the joint River Shannon locations. This latest one is called the Atlantic Technological University, and it comprises the Galway-Mayo, Sligo and Letterkenny Institutes of Technology which have come together to gain university status. Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris, has announced that it this new university is due to be established this coming April, subject of course to the legislative process being completed. This means that current students of the three institutes who graduate in the academic year of 2021-22 will do so with university qualifications. There will be more than 20,000 students and over 2,000 staff when all is up and running.
24 Senior Times l January - February 2022 l www.seniortimes.ie
So, the River Shannon and the Atlantic Ocean will be forever remembered in these two fine institutions. Imagine, by the time readers get to peruse this edition, we will be at Christmas Eve with, hopefully, all of the family together and a relative type of jollity and enjoyment ahead of us. I hope that Christmas will bring some new books to the readers. I am going to concentrate in this edition on the recent biography of Charlie Haughey by Professor Gary Murphy. It is a biographical giant of a book, all of 690 pages, simply called Haughey. Professor Murphy is Professor of Politics in Dublin City University, and he has penned a most thorough and exhaustive account of Charlie Haughey’s life, warts and all. If you can request from someone who loves you one book for Christmas, nominate this one. You see, it will keep you going – you know those in-between days between Christmas and the New Year, when you don’t know what to do with yourself, perusing these pages will mean a lot to you. Over a recent weekend, the book was reviewed by Colm Tóibín in The Irish Times, Alan Shatter in the Irish Independent, Bertie Ahern in The Sunday Times, Shane Ross in
