A woman considered to be one of the State's oldest doctors, who practised as a locum until she was 94, will today celebrate her 100th birthday.
Dr Alice Murnane, from Drumree, Leishanstown, near Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, is now enjoying retirement with her family.
Early to bed and early to rise, she enjoys quiz and wildlife shows during the day as well as a daily glass of sherry with her lunch.
She was born in South Africa in 1903 to a "very English" father and "very Irish" mother. Her father had gone to South Africa to prospect for gold while her mother went there with the Queen Alexandra nurses to care for troops during the Boer War.
Her father taught her to use a revolver at the age of 12, which he felt was necessary for a white woman in Africa at the time.
At aged 16 she was sent to the Loretto Abbey school in Rathfarnham, Dublin, and afterwards returned to South Africa where she read zoology through Afrikaans at Grey University, Bloemfontein.
She then moved back to Ireland to study medicine. She studied both at Trinity College and University College Dublin, and qualified in 1932. Two years later she married Dr Jack Murnane, a dispensary doctor in Co Meath, and they raised five children.
Working together, they made house calls on horseback.