Living with regret and shame for facilitating TD over adoption
NORMALLY, if you’re writing an autobiography, you’re looking at a minimum of six months for the research, interviewing, transcribing and writing. We did it in three weeks. We had no choice.
Dr John O’Connell, the hero of the Dublin slums, was going to run for the Dáil, but for various reasons his chances were small and for the same reasons, his profile was low. He needed to get on The Late Late Show for a lengthy personal interview before the election was called. This was in the ‘80s, when The Late Late Show was all powerful. However, Dr John had to be able to provide a unique reason for being there. Ideally, of course, a vividly personal book. That would do it. That would definitely do it. In fact, as we talked, it became clear that it was the only thing that would do it.
