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Mary Kenny

Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny Opinion 'It takes an emergency to bring home to us that family matters'

One of the most touching photographs published last week was that of two Italian grandparents, Melia and Giovanni Famoso of Milan, joyfully hugging their grandchildren after a two-month lockdown. It must represent such a universal sentiment of families reunited after this surreal and sometimes tormenting period we've been going through. For all the many tragedies, losses and economic anxieties, the one positive that has emerged is that the pandemic has brought families together (and kept them together!). And sometimes brought a new perspective on family life, too.
Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny Opinion 'I was brought to Shannon airport, aged about 10, as a special treat'

Ah, the empty skies! Climate campaigners may celebrate the 41pc decline in air traffic since the onset of the coronavirus - the air is purer, the birdies are singing louder - but it's sad all the same. We may reflect that many of us have probably lived through a golden age of air travel, ever since Dublin Airport was opened 80 years ago, in January 1940. Some may even recall that it was once called 'Collinstown' and that children were taken to the airport for their special First Communion treat, just to watch planes take off. I was brought to Shannon, aged about 10, as a special treat, and I thought it was the most exciting place in the world. I resolved there and then to be an air hostess, deviating from my previous aspiration to be a prima ballerina.
Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny Opinion To wear or not to wear... a face mask?

Here's a generalisation: the Irish are totally unsuited to social distancing. Ireland is a strongly social culture. Read any travel book about this country over the past hundred years and the conclusions are always this: whatever grumbles the visitor may have had about unreliable weather, reckless driving habits or inadequate food standards (the lack of imaginative vegetable dishes was a common complaint until recent years), on one point they were agreed: the Irish were consistently warm and friendly.