Learning the language of love

There was a three-teacher school in Killasolan, 15 miles from Balinasloe in Co Galway, and I was just over three years of age when I went there.

It was a very natural rural farming environment and practically all the pupils of the school were from a small farming background. People were very self-sufficient and I remember specific occasions by the different times of the year, when people would be saving hay or turf. There was an attachment to the seasons. My own background was different in that my own late father was a TD and I had almost a sense of envy about the farming way of life - it was very appealing. We were a non-farming family but we were still right in the middle of it all and, overall, my memories are of a very happy, content and almost a tranquil pace of life.

In the midst of all that, I actually remember my first day at school. I was quite happy to go even though I was quite a bit younger, too young even. I can remember being brought in by my older brother and sister, Michael and Maura. I was the picture of fascination.

One of the things my first teacher did was to change my handwriting. I started writing with my left hand and was changed to my right, a thing which would not be done now. Even though I know it would not be recommended nowadays, my handwriting had been so bad that the switch was positive. I remember very vividly in second class one of the teachers using a Dairymilk bar to teach fractions and I remember out at the back of the school was a wide open field for play time. These are the little things that stand out in an overall memory of contentment. It was a very free and a relaxed way of life.

I moved on to boarding school and it was a huge change for me. My older brother had gone off to St Jarlath's in Tuam so, at 11 years of age, I followed.

I was far too young. It was a huge culture shock going from a very easygoing rural school environment to Jarlath's. It had a pretty tough regime in those days and there would have been lonely times, especially in the early days. From the whole point of the cutting edge of school life I wouldn't recommend going in at the age of 11. One would need to be over 12 to handle that type of life.

On the positive side it was a whole new world for me. The ultimate accolade was to play Gaelic football for the college. While I didn't make the football team I ended up playing hurling for the college, which wasn't a huge distinction, but I got to wear the jersey and I was proud of that.

Midway through my time there, a fellow student who was in the year behind me, John McGloughlin, introduced me to the guitar. That opened up a whole world of music that has remained with me. I still play guitar and music is an important part of my life. That was the time of the Beatles and having learnt the guitar I couldn't leave it down. We had a hall where you could go and listen to LPs. So, along with the sports, I would certainly see music as a tremendous means of escape and relaxation.

I stayed back a year because I was so young, so when I went on to St Patrick's training college in Drumcondra some of the people I spent the first four years of school with would have been the year ahead of me. That meant I had two sets of friends.

Having been in quite a rigid regime, you get a great sense of freedom when you leave it - and it's the first thing I experienced when I come to Dublin. St Pat's managed to instill in all of us a great balance between the academic and the practical. Looking at my development as a person, I certainly would have come into my own by going to Pat's. In school I would have been reasonably involved in things and I probably was fairly well behaved but I'd say I opened up and my character developed rapidly in St Pat's and I certainly enjoyed life there. The fact the gates were open was quite significant.

The best time was when we went for a month to the Gaeltacht in Spiddal. Another group from Carysfort went too. Amongst them was my present wife, Jacinta. I suppose that was the pinnacle of my educational experience.

In conversation with Olivia Kelly