Getting older men to socialise

“WHERE are all the men?”

So asked President Mary McAleese in one of the engagements she undertook across rural Ireland in her last few years in office.

She was finding that at most of the social gatherings to which she was invited, the vast majority of those in attendance were women. There is little doubt that women get out a lot more. The male condition combined with cultural mores about privacy ensure that the problem is more acute in rural areas.