The worth of passion's pledge

My mother on the genesis of 'Raglan Road,' last night in the minor hours.

"It was written about a woman called Hilda Moriarty from Dingle. She was a student who caught the eye of Donough O'Malley, uncle of Dessie, from Limerick.

"O'Malley ran for office for Fianna Fáil instead of my father, who got sent to Iceland instead. Before he went on to become Minister for Education he met Hilda Moriarty, resident at the time on Raglan Road on Dublin's southside.

"Unbeknownst to her future husband, she had also caught the attention of Patrick Kavanagh. He fancied her so he wrote the poem about her."

= =

My da on an encounter with Luke Kelly. Everybody in Dublin over a certain age has a Luke Kelly story.

"It was Good Friday and myself and Dave Moore were walking up Grafton Street with a thirst on us.

"We saw Luke Kelly walking down towards us, so we stopped him.

""Here, Luke, you're the man to talk to," I said. "Any idea where we'd get a jar?"

"...to which he responded: "Lads, do you think if I knew where to get a pint on Good Friday I'd be stood here talking to the likes of youse?"

"The man made a fair point."