Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh: Swimming in the sea and facing the future with optimism
Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh narrates Dúiseacht on TG4, a look at life around Dingle during the Covid crisis.
“The forecast says it’ll be very windy – but the sky’s bright,” observes Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh from his native Dún Síon, three miles outside Dingle.
This dual perspective’s very typical of the veteran broadcaster and nonagenarian, whether he’s talking about missing the golf, due to Covid restrictions – “but sure you can swing a club on Dún Síon Strand once the tide’s fully out” – or mourning the loss of the championship games, “though the media’s giving us more coverage than ever”.
This capacity to look stark reality in the eye, see it for what it is, yet keep hope ever present runs through Ó Muircheartaigh’s musings. It makes him just right for narrating Dúiseacht, a new five-part documentary that follows life on the Dingle Peninsula over a six-month period during Covid-19. The series looks in on the lives of owners/managers of pubs and cafes, schools and hairdressers, musicians and singers, as they grapple with the uncertainty and stress of one of the most challenging times our generation has ever faced.
The series title, Dúiseacht, was inspired by a line from a prayer given by Ó Muircheartaigh’s grandmother to the Schools’ Folklore Collection in 1934: ‘Dúiseacht le dúthracht le breacadh an lae’ – ‘To wake with enthusiasm at the dawning of day’. He has no idea how old the words are. “My grandmother was born in the 1850s and she got it from her mother. It goes away back before the Famine.”
It’s a prayer, he says – as well as a way of life. And it speaks to the resilience and optimism of a community used to hardship through the generations. His grandmother, he points out, lived through World War 1 and the Spanish Flu. And times were tough at the end of her life in 1935, following the Great Depression and with Ireland in the throes of the Economic War.
What would his grandmother’s generation say in these Covid times? They’d be worried, he acknowledges. But they’d hold close the philosophies of hope – “This won’t last, it will not be as serious as it was in the early days, we’ll give things a try”. And all the episode titles – ‘Dóchas’ (hope), ‘Misneach’ (courage), ‘Fuadar’ (determined activity), ‘Fuascailt’ (relief) and ‘Feitheamh’ (waiting) – are offshoots of a central philosophy of optimism in the midst of struggle.
“If you look forward in anticipation, if you are anxious to do a thing – if then you don’t reach your target you’ve lost nothing,” says Ó Muircheartaigh, who describes GAA legend Mick O’Dwyer as at his best when the team had lost. “He’d say ‘we were beaten, let them enjoy their victory’, and he’d point up to the clouds and say ‘nobody won the next one yet – don’t tell anyone, but we’re ahead for the next’.”
As people grapple with the prospect of loved ones abroad not being able to travel home this Christmas, O Muircheartaigh’s recollections find an even stronger echo, in stories of emigrants who left and never came home.
He recalls talking on the phone to one neighbour in particular. “I just happened to say ‘you never came home’. And he told me he did, every night of the year. ‘I walked up Bóthar Na Seán. I went into every field’, and he named them all for me – An Gort Eorna, Páirc an Róis, Cuas na Teorann – and I knew them too.”
Ó Muircheartaigh’s stories are redolent with the reassuring steady positivity of a man who was 90 on August 20 (“Princess Margaret was born the same day as me”). It’s there when he talks about older male relatives – emigrants to America – whose livelihoods of hard physical toil collapsed with the Great Depression but their sisters supported them. And in his reminiscences about a granduncle prospecting for gold – he never found much but any time he did he went for a nice holiday.
Ó Muircheartaigh spent much of the pandemic cocooning in Dún Síon and in Meath – “you’d never be sure when it’d strike you [Covid]”. The virus, he says, is “something nobody ever dreamed of”. He sees it as unifying the entire world, in the sense it’s everywhere and recognises no colour or tradition.
“But there are experts involved. Let’s leave it to them. I’m a great believer in following what the experts say. And it’s heartening to see a vaccine on the way, though someone said viruses never go away, but they can be controlled – this will be acceptable, not so serious.”
Meanwhile he keeps within the 5km restriction – but knows you can go 5km in any direction and it’s “10km by the time you get home”. And he went for a swim on a recent very fine Thursday when it was 13 degrees and rising.
“We said we’ll have to honour that and we did at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. I wouldn’t be a great swimmer but I go in the water, and if a wave’s guaranteed not to go much above my hips I’ll dive in.”
- Builder Muiris Firtéar’s on his first day back at work in May, renovating world-famous Foxy John’s pub on Main Street, Dingle. Musician Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and husband, humanist celebrant Billy Mag Fhloinn, grapple with the technology required to produce and share music videos and the reality of all their sources of income lost indefinitely.
- It's June, the place should be buzzing, but everywhere’s eerily quiet. Café's and pubs are closed, schools are empty. Ex Kerry football manager and school principal Éamonn Fitzmaurice tries to support staff and students while planning for what's ahead. Singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh attempts homeschooling and sixth class pupil Cathal Firtéar, the only child of his age in his area, misses his friends. Breanndán Begley’s enjoying the stillness of life and hairdresser Máire Johnson practices on her mum.
- Late June on the Dingle peninsula and the streets and car-parks are empty. Businesses are relieved to hear restrictions will likely ease soon. Can they still make something of the season? At Gallarus campsite, TP Ó Conchubhair and grandson Éanna are hopeful, if they get good weather. The FishBox in Dingle erect a marquee to accommodate more potential customers. To others, tradition’s more important than business: pensioner Toose Mac Gearailt hopes people will attend his annual gathering and bonfire on St John’s Eve.
- Early July and excitement’s evident as local businesses are allowed re-open and tourists are allowed travel once again. Business owners are looking forward to having their customers back. They’re glad to re-open but it must be done safely and this too is stressful. The weather’s against TP Ó Conchúir and Éanna as they begin opening their camping site.
- Niamh Firtéar and Cathal are looking forward to his first day in Pobalscoil Corca Dhuibhne – Éamonn Mac Muiris welcomes the students back. Muireann looks forward to her first live concert in ages and Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich takes his boat to the sea. Despite efforts, the virus continues to spread and this isn’t looking good for local businesses. With more harsh restrictions on the way what will this mean for them?
