An Irish-speaking local politician who last year published a book of curses to resurrect the art of cursing, this weekend made amends, with the launch of a book of 500 Irish blessings.
Kerry county councillor Mr Breandán Mac Gearailt (FF), who is also a member of Údarás na Gaeltachta, said Irish had a blessing for all occasions.
Most Irish blessings were designed to bring peace, inner as well as outer, and he would be sending 500 Beannacht to the US President "so that Mr Bush would have time and opportunity to calm down and reflect", Mr Mac Gearailt said in Dingle, Co Kerry, at the unveiling of the book by the Irish scholar, Canon Pádraig Ó Fiannachta.
"Múchadh feirge id fhreagra - May your gentle answers turn away wrath," is a case in point, he said.
The blessings are accompanied with translation and are in the same format as his previous book, grouped according to theme and accompanied by "An Snag Breac" - cartoons by Galway-based Mr Domhnal Ó Bruic.
The 500 Mallacht Ort (curses) went into its fourth reprint.
This was because people were tired of trite imprecations and wanted to curse with style and imagination, Mr Mac Gearailt asserted.
He has applied the same thinking to his collection of blessings.
"In Irish, one can wish one's friends and acquaintances well with an unparalleled elegance and economy of words," he said.
They range from the musical "Nár thaga ort brón, sceon nó geon" - May you not suffer sadness, fright or pain, to the soporific: "Néalta áthais tríd néalta suain" - May you have sweet and happy dreams.
Brief and pithy - "Gan doc ort" - may nobody have any qualms about you, the blessings are, as with the curses, about health and wealth.
Quite a few have to do with marriage and procreation.
An intriguing blessing reads: "Go dtóghair an searc-mhaoin thar an searc-grá - May you marry for money rather than love." The blessings, as with the curses, are not confined to the Kerry Gaeltacht.
Others have to do with delivery from the demon drink and from temptations of all kinds. The origins of money are not forgotten and one's wealth should be neither ill-gotten, nor ill-spent, according to the Irish blessing.
Most are distinct from the well-known seanfhocail and may not be widely known outside their own immediate areas.
"Not only will one's Irish improve, but one will be able to convey a new benevolence with style and panache," Mr Mac Gearailt said.
Published by Coiscéim, the book retails at €5.