This week My Holidaystalks to Niall Tobín
What's your earliest holiday memory?I remember gleefully rushing, fully clothed, into the tide at Youghal, in Co Cork, aged five. We lived in Cork city, and we were all going to the sea for our holidays. I only knew about the sea from listening to them talking about it. So when we got off the train I rushed straight into the sea, not realising it was water. I was taken out dripping wet and crying, and I was carried to the lodging house we were to stay in for two weeks.
Your worst holiday?Admiring the rain in Connemara, on a number of occasions. I remember looking out at it from a hotel as a young man. The rain there seems to have a higher salt content, rougher than in east Cork, and when it rained in Connemara it used to rain more spectacularly than anywhere else, but now I think there's been a levelling of the playing fields. You get pissed on wherever you go.
Your best holiday?New England in the fall. There comes a time in late October or early November when you expect it to be wintry, but it isn't. It's almost like a picture card autumn, with extraordinarily spectacular colours. There are thousands of square miles of it. It's almost as if the whole place is on fire. When you're told about it you say "Sure, that's nice," but when you see it you say
"Oh my God." And autumn is a wonderful time to play golf there. It's not too hot and it's not too cold, and the atmosphere and terrain are lovely - though it doesn't improve my game.
If budget or work were no restriction, what would be your dream holiday?If this dream came true, I'd probably be in trouble.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?See previous question!
Favourite place in Ireland?The Dingle Peninsula. It's a Gaeltacht area, and I love the pace of life there. I love the Kerry Irish. I am a native Irish speaker, and I didn't speak English until I started going to school. My mother was from Kerry and my father was a Gaelic teacher, so I have a strong affinity with the place. I also spent a lot of time in Dingle when Ryan's Daughter was being filmed, usually under the influence of alcohol. I have a lot of friends there, and I was there a lot during my drinking days. Maybe it's through the clouded spectacles of time, but I still think Dingle is the most beautiful place in Ireland.
What holiday reading would you recommend?The poems of Patrick Kavanagh.
Where to next?Heaven if it's there and if I'm let in. Otherwise Manhattan.
• In conversation with Fiona Gartland