This is not a story of me, but of me and mine, of my place and theirs, of places north, south, east and west in Ireland ... and of the times and traditions that left an indelible mark on a growing boy.


My memoir of childhood, Looking under Stones: Roots, Family and a Dingle Childhood, was published by O'Brien Press in September 2003. It is a story of growing up in Dingle, but also of my roots in the island communities of the Galway coast .

The story concludes with my arrival in Dublin, a trajectory familiar to many people from rural Ireland.

The book was officially launched by former Tanáiste Dick Spring in the National Museum, Kildare Street, Dublin, following a pre-launch in Dingle. Maidhe Dainín Ó Sé launched the book in my cousin Fergus O'Flaherty's pub in Dingle, to music from the Dingle Pipe and Drum Band.

As the book says, I have left Dingle, but Dingle hasn't left me.