Postcard from Ireland

Currently in Ireland for the first time in two-and-a-half years.

To put this in perspective, from 2010 - when we launched Forest Ireland - to 2019, before the pandemic, I would visit the country three or four times a year.

It’s fair to say I’ve missed my regular trips although I haven’t missed the crowds at Stansted and Dublin airports nor the high winds that can sometimes make take-offs and landings in Ireland a bit bumpy.

One experience still lives with me.

Not only did we sit on the runway for what seemed like a lifetime waiting for the wind speed to drop to the maximum level allowed for take-off, the flight itself was extremely turbulent, the first half hour especially.

Ever since I have checked the wind speed before flying from Dublin (and Cork) and if it gets anywhere near 40mph I will happily switch to a later flight - even the next day, although that has only happened once.

That aside I have lots of good memories of going to Ireland whether for business or pleasure.

In 2004, a few months after the introduction of the smoking ban, I managed to combine the two when I took the family to Westport (in Co Mayo), then Galway and Kilkenny as part of a ‘fact finding’ mission to see what impact the ban was having on Ireland’s pubs and bars.

On the eve of the ban I had gone to Dublin to take part in a Sky News programme presented by the great Richard Littlejohn from the bar of the famous Shelbourne Hotel on St Stephen’s Green.

I will never forget how I almost missed appearing on the programme after I caught a train I thought was travelling to Dublin but was actually going in the opposite direction, to Wexford.

Correcting my mistake was a nightmare involving a long walk, a very slow bus (following a very long wait), and another train.

A simple journey that should have taken an hour eventually took six and I arrived at the Shelbourne, hot and dishevelled, with minutes to spare before the start of the programme.

(If you think I’m exaggerating I’m not. Rural Ireland is a sleepy place at the best of times and this was peak siesta.)

Work-wise I have better memories of the series of small private dinners we hosted at an award-winning restaurant in Dublin when guest speakers included Claire Fox, Chris Snowdon and Ella Whelan.

Best of all perhaps were the two Golden Nanny events that featured awards for the politicians most associated with nanny state initiatives.

In 2017 Senator Catherine Noone was Ireland’s undisputed nanny and she surprised most of us by turning up in person to accept her award.

The following year she was pipped to the title by another parliamentarian, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, and she too graced the occasion with her presence.

Fair play to them. I was hugely impressed.

Since then however they have both lost their seats in parliament (the curse of Forest, perhaps?) which means two fewer nannies but two fewer politicians with a sense of humour.

In contrast, can you imagine Bob Blackman, chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health, accepting a ‘Nanny’ from Forest? Or any other anti-smoking MP or peer?

Anyway, after catching up with my Forest Ireland colleague John Mallon in Cork I am now staying with friends near Greystones, a pretty little town in Co Wicklow just south of Dublin.

We’ve just been for a walk in Greystones. It’s quite overcast but families are playing on the beach and several people are in the water which looks cold but calm.

Tragically however a local teacher drowned just a week ago while swimming off that very beach.

Being a teacher, and this being a relatively small community, she was known to a lot of people. She taught my friends’ daughter, who is now at college, and both she and many of her old class mates attended the funeral.

On a lighter note my friend Bill is flying to Tenerife tomorrow (from Dublin) to climb an extinct volcano. He’s promised to send a photo which I will post here next week.

Above: Forest Ireland’s John Mallon and friends outside the Liberty Grill in Cork on Thursday; below, Senator Catherine Noone with her coveted ‘Nanny’ trophy in 2017