Anyone tempted to even glance at the partial solar eclipse with the naked eye today would do well to heed the advice of someone who peered directly at the sun some 56 years ago and has had an eye problem ever since.
Former journalist and writer Robin Hutcheon, was 14 when he decided to watch a partial eclipse at his home in Sydney, Australia. "I was home from school recovering from illness," he recalled. "We had been advised to prick a hole in a piece of cardboard and watch the reflection, but I put my hat over my head and looked at the sun through a ventilation hole in the side.
"I watched it for several seconds. Afterwards I experienced a period when I couldn't see with my right eye. Thereafter I have had a series of little black spots and a little gray ball of wool floating around my eye."
Speaking from his home in Sydney yesterday, Mr Hutcheon, who is 70, said that the retina of his right eye was permanently damaged by his 10-second viewing of the 4550 per cent partial eclipse.
Despite many visits to eye specialists, to this day the black dots and "floating ball of wool" still hampered his reading.
His advice to people in Ireland today? Don't look directly at the sun. It is not worth it.