The surprise and unexpected arrival of the South African minister for education, Kadar Asmal, at the launch of Dirty War, Clean Hands (Cork University Press, £19.99) causes quite a stir at the Clarence Hotel on Tuesday evening. The author, Irish Times journalist Paddy Woodworth, is overwhelmed by the touching gesture of a political leader he respects enormously. A former TCD lecturer, Asmal is currently at the end of a two week visit to Ireland.
The book is launched by author Brian Keenan, who describes it as "a labour of love which will become a reference text in every university with a peace studies curriculum". It narrates the Spanish authorities' dirty war against Basque separatists. It took five years to write but was almost 20 years in the making, so family and colleagues are almost as relieved as the author to see the final hardback edition in print.
Sitting proud among friends and family is Paddy's mother Mary from Cashel. Although she hasn't yet read the book, she is already very familiar with individual chapters that she's read in progress and enjoyed over the years. "I've never been to Spain, but now I know so much about the country that I feel like I have," she says. Paddy's partner, Trish Long (marketing and publicity director of Buena Vista International) gets a special acknowledgment from the podium as he tells her that he couldn't have finished the project without her support.
Among colleagues and friends in the Clarence to congratulate Woodworth is the editor of The Irish Times, Conor Brady, whom the journalist thanks for his great support. Everybody is clutching copies of the book and there's quite a queue waiting for the author to personally inscribe them. Film director Paddy Breathnach, whose new film, Blow Dry, will open soon, is a long-time friend of the author and is here to buy the book. The Mexican ambassador, Daniel Dultzin, is heaping on the praise for both the author's grasp of Spanish politics and the new book. Aurora Diaz, counsellor at the Spanish Embassy is here, with her husband, Ignacio Montes, director of the Instituto Cervantes. Also among the crowd are Michael Colgan of the Gate, poet Theo Dorgan, author Peter Sheridan and maritime historian John de Courcy Ireland.