The late Cardinal William Conway ("Big Bill") was a very shy man and particularly wary of politicians. He once told me politicians made him nervous and he never knew what to say to them.
I first met him in 1969. Northern Ireland was in turmoil and Bernadette Devlin was on the barricades in Derry's Bogside. I was sent to Armagh, where a man had been shot dead and the town was very tense.
On arrival, I did what I always did on a visit to the North in those hectic days: I hid my car at the back of the hotel and used taxis. Southern-registered cars were liable to have their tyres slashed, be daubed with paint, or set on fire. My old car might have been a banger, but it was the only banger I had and it meant quite a lot to me. After my house, it was my biggest investment.
Pace of events
Having safely disposed of the limo, I headed up to the cardinal's residence to get his response to the deteriorating situation. He agreed to an interview and showed me into his sitting-room. Deeply worried, he paced up and down the room as he spoke. He said he was concerned at the pace of events and the way things were getting out of control. Then he said: "This rioting is a very serious development. There could be recriminations. Repercussions could go on for some time. . ." Little did he know they would go on for over 30 years, that more than 3,000 people would be killed and hundreds more maimed. Then a strange thing happened. As he walked past the big bay window, he froze and stopped talking in mid-sentence. He turned to me and with panic in his voice said: "I'm sorry, you'll have to go now. . .quick, quick."
I didn't know what had happened. One minute he was being very friendly and amenable; the next, his whole personality had changed. "Look, look," he said, pointing out the window at five men walking up the hill towards his house. "They are politicians. It is a political delegation. They want to talk to me about the riots."
So what? What's the problem, I asked? He brusquely explained: "Politicians make me nervous. I don't want them to see me talking with a reporter."
"But what difference would that make?>"I asked.
He wasn't going to give any further explanation. He ushered me to a back door and I had to make my disappearance through a clump of shrubs and trees. I furtively made my way around to the front of the building, where I peered out from behind a wall at the political delegation.
The politicians were members of Labour's parliamentary party who had travelled from Dublin on a "fact-finding" mission and, like me, were anxious to get Big Bill's views on the situation. He was in big demand and not enjoying it one little bit.
Hazard of journalism
I felt a bit peeved at entering the building by the front door and then being ignominiously dumped out the back 15 minutes later. Still, it is one of the hazards of journalism to have doors shut in your face or, even if you do charm your way inside, to be thrown out later. I just accepted it as par for the course. Besides, in this instance, I had my story.
It was a case of no hard feelings. I liked Big Bill and enjoyed my first and last interview with him. . He had a good sense of humour. As he was showing me into his house, a little old lady walked past. He told me she cleaned the cathedral. "She always calls me Your Ambulance," he said.
He also possessed great patience. Earlier in the day, he was interviewed by an RTE reporter. The interview had to be done three times because the interviewer's tape recorder did not work and the same questions had to be repeated. Admittedly, at the third attempt, the prince of the Church was beginning to show a bit of anger. Still, while he got a bit red-faced and flustered, he didn't resort to banishing the journalist to outer darkness. He was politeness and courtesy personified.
Technology
Whenever I think back on that day, I thank my lucky stars that I don't work in radio or television. You never know when the technology or the film crew will get it wrong. I don't like putting myself in somebody else's hands. There is a lot to be said for the unglamorous print media and the humble pen and paper. Not much can go wrong there. After all, a pen doesn't suffer from a flat battery or a technical fault. In television and radio journalism there is a lot of gadgetry that can undermine the unfortunate reporter.
There are enough problems covering news without having to rely on the battery in a tape recorder or hoping your crew's equipment doesn't malfunction.
Mistakes by radio and television people are always amusing because the electronic medium appears so authoritative. A mistake on radio or television can be the subject of conversation for weeks afterwards. Television and radio critics will jump on it and comment with glee. This is unfair. It takes courage to be a radio or television journalist, especially if you are presenting a live report.
Maybe Big Bill understood that when he patiently answered the same questions three times to help a harassed journalist.