Combining a labour of love with a consummate knowledge of his home place, banker-turned-writer Derry O'Donovan has the recipe for success, according to the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who launched the west Cork man's elegant new book of local history, Ballinspittle and De Courcey Country, on Tuesday in the Merrion Hotel, Dublin.
Derry's wife, Mary, his daughter Deirdre and son Donogh looked on proudly with friends, including Renata Coleman from Humewood Castle in Co Wicklow and John O'Connor, owner of the golf links on the Old Head of Kinsale.
O'Connor was there with his fellow Co Kerry native, Arts Council member Noelle Campbell Sharpe. Another Arts Council representative on the night was the recently-appointed chairwoman, Olive Braiden, who couldn't praise O'Donovan's generosity of spirit highly enough. "He fundraises for everyone and everything, unsung and unpaid," she said. And how is she enjoying her own experience of public service, so far? "A lot to read into and learn," she said, smiling, "but I'm getting used to it. It's a terrific new council, all really committed to doing the right thing." Whipping out their credit cards for O'Donovan's epic were First Step founder Norma Smurfit and PR consultant Roisin O'Hea, while Dublin Lord Mayor Royston Brady trod the red carpet at the Taoiseach's side.
As he darted about, one absent person was to the fore of O'Donovan's mind: "My late father was a rich source for so much of the material," he said. "It's about parish life, about hidden Ireland. And we are all a part of that."