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IN DECEMBER, WHEN I have some head space and a break from the daily grind, I reflect upon the unusual trajectory of my life. As I say to friends, neighbours and colleagues, if you had told me in 2000 where I’d be living and what I’d be doing almost a quarter of a century later, I’d have questioned your sanity.
On this occasion, though, after a whirlwind of analysing extraordinary elections and ahead of making a family trip to Washington, DC and my cherished hometown, I am basking in a bit of relative peace and quiet. My thoughts have been revolving around just how good this country has been to and for me.
I was extremely lucky to have had an Irish passport since I was a boy and luckier still that Professor Gerard Quinn took a chance on a young, disenchanted Boston lawyer in search of a new career and offered me a one year fellowship to teach legal research and writing in Galway, my ancestral home, in 2001. The rest is history. They couldn’t get rid of me.
In addition to these and other similarly weighty considerations, I have been pondering more trivial subjects. Like everyone, I have my own peccadilloes when it comes to food and drink, plenty of which – I am reliably informed by my wife – render me eccentric or a total weirdo. Following 12 months of writing about American and Irish politics, I thought this might be a fitting moment to sketch out a few of them and invite the ire of the readership.
First, I much favour corned beef over bacon. In Massachusetts, it is instilled in us that people in Ireland eat corned beef, cabbage and spuds on a frequent basis. That obviously is not true. Bacon, which is entirely different to the greasy, crispy stuff we have in the United States, is the meat in the national dish.
On the flip side, some here insist that they grew up without even having heard of corned beef and never saw it for sale. I don’t understand how. It is available in all supermarkets and butcher shops, and it is a staple item at many carveries. My father-in-law said that it always was.
At any rate, nothing beats the flavour of a perfectly cooked slice of corned beef, ideally with a little sliver of fat at the edges and accompanied by a healthy dollop of English mustard. It is complemented well by potatoes and veg or is excellent in a white bread sandwich. I do enjoy bacon, but if given the option, I will go for corned beef 95 times out of 100.
Second, and this is a close call, I slightly prefer Murphy’s to Guinness. This will probably come as a shock to Darren Cusack and Co at Mulligan’s of Poolbeg Street, Emma Rice and the crew at Wicklow Golf Club and the staff at several other hostelries which I frequent and where I rapidly consume gorgeous pints of Guinness. Yet, I am a huge fan of the sweeter caramel/coffee scent of the stout of the south.
On visits to Cork, I do my best to get into the Hi-B and the Welcome Inn to drink a couple of fantastic pints of Murphy’s, prior to an invariably outstanding meal at Market Lane. I am yearning for it all as I type. A trip to Cork is definitely on the itinerary.
Third, and this one is no contest in my humble opinion, O’Donnell’s crisps are vastly superior to what may be the quintessential Irish brand, Tayto, which countless emigrants home for Christmas surely couldn’t wait to start munching on from the minute they deplaned. I am not saying that Taytos are terrible; they are decent, and I eat too many of them if they are put in front of me.
In taste and in substance, however, they do not compare to O’Donnell’s. On the latter feature, this delicious product derived from Seskin Farm in Co Tipperary is full bodied with a great crunch. Taytos, conversely, can be flimsy and verging on soft.
With respect to the former element, there is a litany of amazing varieties – running from the traditional Salt and Vinegar and Cheese and Onion to Ballymaloe Relish and Cheddar Cheese and Fire Roasted Buffalo Wings. It’s a bad idea to buy a large bag because they are very hard to stop devouring. They don’t last long in our house.
By now, it may be crystal clear as to why my better half and two sons often describe me as a strange individual. Their defamatory accusations aside, I am confident that many of the more sophisticated among you concur with my choices. And no matter what you’re eating and drinking on these lovely, lazy days, I hope you have a wonderful 2025.
Larry Donnelly is a Boston lawyer, a Law Lecturer at the University of Galway and a political columnist with TheJournal.ie.
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Its obvious whats going on. Kenny needs full control of the terms of reference and scope of the inquiry to ensure FG (who are up to their necks in it as well) and their cronies can’t be called in front of the committee for scrutiny. It will purely be a ‘what FF did’ re-election tool in the run up to the next election, all funded by the taxpayer.
It is simply stunning that this mouthpiece and prominent Apologist / Member of FG , is given the opportunity every week to espouse this inaccurate Fascism Speak on The Journal.ie .
I have no problem with right to make a point – but please keep the articles accurate to basic facts please .
The Banking Enquiry lost its Democratic teeth , when it’s mandate was undermined by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his undemocratic Dictatorship .
As a result , it will come to zero – for that reason alone !
Correct.
endas been hiding in the dail since 1975, I don’t think he realises that people are no longer being spoonfed the news by RTE and newspapers. Between the little ‘reichstag fire’ on prom night and changing the rules on the banking enquiry after the vote, he has certainly reminded us of FGs roots.
Fine Gael mouthpiece you say? The article is highly critical of the government. Hardly mouthpiece stuff.
Always ironic to see the usual Sinn Fein sympathizers speak of Fascism…
Can’t stand the guy either but in his defender I thought he literally did say your comment when he spoke about the current government being undemocratic
Who voted against the bailout, Aaron?
http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0664/D.0664.200810170003.html
” changing the rules to alter a result you dont care for is un democratic” hang on a minute isn’t that exactly what happened with the lisbon treaty?
Our friends from SF HQ, Werejam and Ciara are obviously delighted with any device to scupper the banking enquiry. They need FF as strong as possible for their 2016 SF/FF coalition: the more delayed the banking enquiry can be the better in that regard.
The government of the day up to 2008 are most culpable. Anything that derails a quest for that accountability is a good thing it would seem. SF are masters in the dark arts of misdirection and diversion.
Any comment to make about your partys senior member, Phil hogans, cushy relationship with ‘Fingers’ Fingleton which resulted in him securing a €900,000 interest only loan?
FG want control to make sure the spotlight is kept on FF. One member of enquiry has already indicated that enda kenny should be called in front of the committee, interesting times ahead….
There you go again.
In fairness John Enda has all ready scuppered the banking inquiry by what he has said about the inquiry and its make up…..
Yeah, let’s cancel the whole thing. We aren’t idiots are we.
Europe must find this hysterical.
We moan that we were duped into guaranteeing banking debts by the ECB.
FF/Dept of Finance lose the letter from Trichet.
We try to hold and an enquiry.
But it get’s cancelled by the rabble because it might show FF in an unfair light. We wouldn’t want that now would we. It will be too difficult to avoid blaming FF for anything, so we’d be better off not having any enquiry.
SF now seem to think it is the borrower’s fault again, using werejam’s example of Fingleton & Hogan. Until now it was the lender’s fault, and the foreign lenders to the domestic lenders fault. Which is it? Do you not want to go after anyone in case you miss out on Phil Hogan and anyone else who were able to get dodgy loans for our dodgy banks?
This comment makes no sense. SF didn’t scupper the banking inquiry. That’s the whole point of this piece. If anything, SF are in competition with FF for votes. So by keeping the banking inquiry going, they keep the heat on FF. And if the polls and recent elections are anything to go by, Irish people need reminding what FF actually did to this country
SF are complicit with FF in derailing the enquiry. SF+FF have something cooking in the oven. How long will it be before it is ready for public consumption.
Fooling the public for another two years seems unlikely for this goverment. maybe it should be RTE providing the 4.6 million budget for this fictional mini series where the guilty end up getting their costs and drawing down their pensions. We are stuck with the debt no matter what, we are stuck with the Dail and the Seanad, lobbyist have written their own code of conduct and handed the finished copy to Howlin to publish announcing reform for the people.the trust is gone all that remains now is how many more generations will lie down and allow themselves to be treated as idiots.
This is no “show trial”. It has no teeth. It is a talk-show.
Pretty much a rewritten version of an Irish Times article from earlier this week. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/has-sinn-f%C3%A9in-saved-the-government-s-bacon-1.1836701
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