“I’m longer in Dublin than Offaly but a proud Offaly man. I still refer to “going home” whenever I talk about going to Banagher. I joined An Garda Siochana in 1990 and have been in Dublin for most of my career. For the first five years of my life, I lived in Birr, but then we moved to Banagher. Banagher was a very vibrant town back then. I still vividly remember my school days, going to Mulhare’s shop on the way home from school; fizzle sticks, Toffee Logs, and Oil Rigs were all on offer there. The summer of 1984 springs to mind, sweltering summer, spending days down at the Shannon swimming on a Sunday, cars parked on the banks with doors open, radios on listening to whichever match was being broadcast that particular Sunday. The music in the garden of The Shannon Hotel on a Sunday afternoon, heading to the sportsfield early in the morning and coming home when you wanted food.
Sadly, a lot of this has changed today, the bottom of the town has gone very quiet, and the hotel is now a ruin. Nallens, Quigleys, Healys, Donegan’s bike shop, all now a distant memory. The town is so in need of a major investment to breathe new life into it.
I always had a love for stories, from reading comics to the many adventures of The Hardy Boys to probably my favourite book of my childhood, “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 and ¾” by Sue Townsend. I tried writing some of my own stories but found it easier to write poetry. Somewhere, there is a copybook full of poetry that just disappeared. In 1989 I translated one of these poems into a song, helped by the late great Joe Rabbitte from Clara. His velvet tones caused this song to reach the finals of ‘The Cavan International Song Contest.’
I have two boys I nicknamed “Moany McMoan” and “Whingy McWhinge”, who react like most children do whenever asked to do something. One day I jokingly said that I would write a book about them. And so I did, and to keep costs down, I illustrated it myself. I submitted the draft to all the children’s publishers but received nothing back, not even a ‘Dear John.’
A chance meeting with an American lady at the airport led to my getting a publishing contract. “Moany McMoan… The Accidental Hero” was released last September. It has led to me being interviewed by Ryan Tubridy, doing school visits, doing library readings, etc. We launched the book in Malahide, and it sold out in an hour. We had a second launch in Banagher in late September with the same result. To date, the reviews have blown me away. The only two negative ones were that (1) It should be longer and (2) there should be more illustrations. A few celebrities have even given it the thumbs up, including Una Healy, Mundy, and Patricia Scanlon.
Book two is due for release this coming September. It will continue from book one, dealing with the goings on in the world of Moany. I have also written a chapter for a forthcoming book, “Mental Health For Millennials 2.” Life today is extremely stressful, and this has had a huge effect on people’s mental health. My chapter deals with devices and addiction to the same. I feel people need to talk more, exercise more, and interact more in person, not online. We all need to escape from our daily stress. Simply, “put down the devices, clear the mind.” The world doesn’t need to know your every thought, location or meal. Who knows, maybe even sit down and write a book?”